


Buffy's New Boyfriend

by maryperk



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Adult Language, F/F, F/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-09
Updated: 2013-02-09
Packaged: 2017-11-28 18:01:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 37,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/677263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maryperk/pseuds/maryperk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During Becoming Part 2, instead of the band lie Joyce comes up with an interesting alternative that Buffy and Spike go along with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It all started with a bang

Chapter 1, It all started with a bang.

BECOMING, MAY 1997

It all started with a bang. The bang of Joyce’s car door that is. Buffy could tell her mother was upset when she pulled up outside the Revello Drive house. The Slayer just hoped that Spike would be a help instead of a hindrance. The truce was his idea after all.

“I have been looking all over for you!” Joyce said in a stern voice. She glanced at Spike. “Who is this man? Who is this, Buffy?”

Buffy opened her mouth to come up with a convincing lie when her mother continued to speak. She gave Spike a fleeting look, but the obstinate vampire wasn’t any help what so ever. He just smirked at her with mischief dancing in his blue eyes.

“He’s your boyfriend, isn’t he?” Joyce put her hands on her hips. “He’s why that other boy was so angry.”

Buffy glared at Spike who raised his eyebrow while he too waited for Buffy to answer her mother’s question. A memory from a few months before flashed through Buffy’s mind.

_VALENTINE’S DAY, FEBRUARY 1997_

_Buffy gave the clientele of Willy’s bar a quick perusal before she crossed the room to the bar. It looked like even the demons had something better to do with their Valentine’s Day than she did. Of course, the male demons were probably all out trying to figure out why their females had gone Xander-happy that day. Buffy wrinkled her nose at how Xander-happy she had been. She was almost glad that Amy had turned her into a rat._

_“What’ll you have, Slayer?” Willy asked. He just hoped what the Slayer wanted wasn’t to punch him in the nose. He was only human, and her punches hurt. She didn’t exactly look dressed for fighting. She looked like she was dressed for a trip to the gym, but Willy had learned that how she was dressed didn’t matter much. The Slayer was lethal at all times._

_Buffy shrugged. “Heck if I know, Willy.” She looked at the bottles lining the wall behind the bar. “You got anything that tastes good, doesn’t last long, and my mom won’t smell.”_

_“Give the Slayer a Dragoonian Pale Moonrise.” A familiar voice rang out next to Buffy._

_Buffy turned to find Spike in his wheelchair at a nearby table. She wondered how she’d failed to notice him in the room. Buffy noticed that he kept his scarred face in the shadows as if embarrassed by the burn marks. She was about to protest his suggestion._

_“Good choice,” Willy commented._

_Buffy leaned against the bar while she studied the vampire. “So, they let you out alone tonight, Spike?”_

_Behind the bar, Willy started mixing the drink that the injured vampire had suggested. He knew of nobody that was as volatile as these two creatures. If he was lucky they’d kill each other and leave him alone._

_Spike’s sad, cynical voice muttered, “Too busy shaggin’ to worry about a crippled vamp, Slayer.” He took a long drink off the glass of amber alcohol in front of him. “Dru’s a bloody bitch.”_

_“Angel’s a … a darned poophead.” Buffy took a seat across from the vampire. Normally she would have been going for her stake, but two things stopped her. The first was that Spike didn’t look like much of a threat in his wheelchair, and the other was that he looked as unhappy as she felt._

_Willy brought the Dragoonian Pale Moonrise out from behind the bar, and he set it on the table between the Slayer and the vampire. Then, he went to find a good hiding spot in case there was a fight._

_Spike snorted. “Is that the best you can come up with, Slayer?”_

_“Well, I haven’t had centuries of practice like some people.” Buffy took a sip of the silvery, demonic drink in front of her. “Oh, this is yummy.”_

_Spike raised his drink. “Well, here’s to Valentine’s Day and lost loves.” He put the glass to his lips._

_Buffy nodded in agreement while she swallowed another mouthful of the Moonrise. “I swear my next boyfriend is gonna be evil before we start on the smoochies.” She started to feel tingly all over, and her eyes fell to Spike’s lips._

_Spike’s eyebrows shot up when the Slayer stared at his mouth, her pink tongue darting out to wet her own lips. “What are you thinking about, Slayer?” he asked._

_Buffy’s gaze rose to Spike’s eyes. Then, she gave the vampire a cheeky grin. “You’re evil. Will you be my boyfriend?”_

_Spike let out a bark of laughter. “You know, Slayer. You’re an alright bird.”_

_The two mortal enemies spent a few hours chatting about anything and everything. Neither one thought about how they should be trying to kill the other. They were brought together by a foe bigger than both of them._

_Loneliness._

Finally Buffy turned back to her mother with her answer. “Yes, Mom. Spike’s my boyfriend.” She grabbed Spike’s hand in a death grip. “I dumped Angel to date him, and Angel got all stalker-y on us.”

Spike snorted. He couldn’t believe that Buffy went along with her mother’s suggestion. Did the woman have no clue as to what her daughter’s true identity was? By the look of confusion on Mrs. Summers’ face, Spike guessed she probably didn’t. How else would she jump to the conclusion he was dating Buffy?

“Were you with him when that girl was killed?” Joyce asked. “Can he tell the police that you had nothing to do with her death?”

“I uh …” Buffy gave Spike a ‘help me out here’ glare. “Can’t we take this inside?”

“I’m not sure how I feel about this,” Joyce replied. She stepped towards the porch.

Before anything else could be said, a vampire minion jumped out of the bushes on the other side of the porch. He pushed Spike and Buffy to the side before he started to jump towards Joyce. The Slayer grabbed the minion when he went by, slamming him into Spike. The bleached blond hit him a few times while Buffy took the time to pull out a stake. A particularly hard hit by Spike sent the vampire reeling into Buffy who staked him. 

Spike sneered at the crumbling pile of dust. “One of Angel’s boys.”

“Yeah, probably watching one of us.” Buffy nodded.

“He won’t get a chance to tattle on us now.” Spike tilted his head. “Doesn’t she know what you are?”

Buffy shook her head. “Last time I brought it up they stuck me in the loony bin.”

“Buffy, what is going on?” Joyce asked in utter confusion.

Buffy looked at her mom. Maybe it was time to try telling Joyce the truth again. At least this time she could get Spike to do a demonstration for her. Buffy stepped closer to her mother. “Mom…” she hesitated for a moment. “I’m a vampire slayer, and my boyfriend? He’s a vampire.”

Joyce stared at her daughter in complete dismay. She blinked, and she shook her head. _Not this again!_


	2. Stormy Weather

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm playing with canon here. I am fully aware that Anyanka isn't where I have her for this story.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2, Stormy Weather

“This has gone far enough, Buffy!” The look on Joyce’s face rivaled a thunderstorm in its intensity. “Now you’ve dragged this nice young man into your delusion!”

“It’s not a delusion, Mom,” Buffy tried again. “Doesn’t Spike at least look familiar to you? You did meet him before you know.” She hoped her mother would listen to her this time. She had no desire to spend time in an institution again.

Joyce turned to study the young man standing behind her daughter. He was dressed all in black except for a bit of red that peeked out from inside his jacket. His skin was almost as pale as his bleached hair, but both of these emphasized his bright blue eyes. She could see what drew her daughter to the man. Sudden recognition dawned on Joyce, and she put her hand to her chest. “He’s one of those … those gang members on PCP.” She turned to Buffy. “What have you gotten yourself into? We moved away from Los Angeles to prevent this.”

Buffy turned on Spike, and with a snarl she growled, “If you don’t show off the bumpies you’re going to meet up with Mr. Pointy.”

Spike let out a bark of laughter. “You’re one of a kind there, Slayer. I knew there was a reason I liked you.” He turned to Buffy’s mother. With a slight incline of his head, he replied, “Your daughter isn’t lying, Mrs. Summers. She’s the Slayer, and I’m really a vampire.”

“Oh no, mister. You’re not going to play along with this are you?” Joyce pointed her finger at the young man, but she jumped back with a scream when his face shifted into that of a monster. A quick glance at Buffy told her that her daughter not only expected this change, but she wasn’t particularly impressed by it either.

Spike shook off his game face. He found it odd that he had no desire to hurt either the Slayer or her mother. He still wasn’t sure why the older woman had thought he was dating Buffy, and he sure didn’t know why Buffy had gone along with the idea. The only thing he could come up with was the conversation that they had at the demon bar on Valentine’s Day when Buffy asked him to be her boyfriend. Spike was sure they could have come up with a better lie than dating. He also wondered why he wasn’t completely disgusted by the idea of shagging the Slayer. _Maybe she’s been in my thoughts too much lately,_ he grunted to himself.

A sudden streak of lightning shot across the sky above them. They each looked up in surprise as the sky had been perfectly clear a few minutes before. Clouds boiled and rolled across the darkened sky blotting out the stars. A cool spring rain started to pour down, and they ran for the porch.

“That’s weird,” Buffy said. “I didn’t think it was very stormy.”

“Yes, I think it’s odd too, luv.” Spike stared up at the sky. “I just hope old Angelus hasn’t figured out how to open up his pet rock already.”

“Let’s get inside before one of Angelus’ minions finds us again.” Buffy opened the front door of her house. “Come in, Spike.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

MEANWHILE AT THE CRAWFORD STREET MANSION

Giles struggled against the bonds that surrounded him. He knew Kendra was dead, and Willow injured back at the library. He just hoped that Snyder didn’t catch Buffy alone. God only knew what kind of nasty accusations the little dictator would throw about when the two girls were found in the library.

“Bloody Hell, I wish I could change things,” Giles grunted. He twisted one of his arms to no avail. A figure appeared in the room in front of him. Giles reared his head back with a gasp. “Who are you?”

“I am Anyanka, patron saint of scorned women, at your service,” the dark haired woman said.

Giles cleared his throat. “If I’m not mistaken, I am neither a woman nor scorned.”

Anyanka gave the man a dirty look. “I know that! I am stuck here until someone can rescue my pendant from where that bastard hid it.” She paced back in forth in front of the bound man. “One little vengeance spell for his poor abused wife, and he went crazy. It wasn’t like he didn’t deserve to have his penis turned inside out and tucked inside his ball sack.”

Giles shuddered in sympathy for the unnamed male.

“He cheated on his wife, you know.” Anyanka continued her explanation. “Many times over. The final straw was when she caught him with her own mother.”

“I can see why that might make a woman mad,” Giles replied diplomatically. “However, how will that help me out of my current situation?”

“If you get my pendant, I can get us out of here.” Anyanka rolled her eyes. “It’s hidden behind the light colored rock above the mantle in the fireplace of the main room.”

Giles gave a sigh of exasperation. “Look at me, woman. I’m a little tied up here.”

“Well, look at me. I’m a little bit incorporeal.” Anyanka waved her hand through Giles’ head. She stopped mid-wave when she felt the magical power residing within the man. “Oh, now that’s interesting. I can work with that.”

“Work with what?”

Anyanka grinned. “You’re a chaos mage, silly. I can filter your power and help you.”

“By creating chaos?”

“If that’s what it takes.” Anyanka raised her other hand towards the ceiling of the room. Electricity shot out the tips of her fingers, passed through the roof, and high above the Crawford Street mansion, dark ominous clouds billowed.

The chaos had started.

Inside the mansion, a lone minion sat at a table with a large tome in front of him. The words scrambled around the page before his very eyes, but since it was his tenth hour of staring at the unforgiving words, he thought it was from fatigue. When thunder boomed loudly above his head, he looked up for a moment, missing how the words rearranged themselves. A bright flash of lightning covered the bright magical glow when the letters settled into place.

The minion returned his eyes to the page. He blinked in surprise when it appeared that he now understood what was written. He was so thankful that he had somehow managed to break the code that he didn’t think about the dancing words. 

The minion jumped to his feet, and he carried the book out of the room to show it to Master Angelus.

Across the human landscape of Sunnydale, the chaos caused small changes to occur. Some found a new acceptance in places where before there was none before. In others it intensified emotions or prejudices. The Scoobies were transforming too. Some of it was good, and some of it was bad. Hardly anyone would not be the same as they were before.

Change was coming.


	3. Werewolves

Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Werewolves

Willow looked up when Oz entered her hospital room with a bowl of jello. She gave him a smile when he seated himself in the chair beside the bed. With her free hand she took the bowl when he offered it to her. Willow spoke into the telephone while she played with her spoon. “I’m okay, Buffy, really. I mean, I don’t feel really good, but I’m awake. I know my name and who the President is. I’m pretty sure they don’t think my brain is mush.”

“Oh thank God.” Buffy twirled the phone cord in her hand. “I’m sorry I can’t be there.”

“I know. I’m sorry I didn’t get to cure Angel.”

Buffy gave a shrug. “Don’t be. It just wasn’t meant to be. I know I’m never gonna get him back the way he was. At this point I don’t really care.” She leaned over to look at Spike and her mom sitting in the living room. 

“If you’re sure.” Willow glanced at Oz. “Any luck finding Giles?”

Buffy snorted when she saw how uneasy her mom was making Spike. One little thump on the head with an axe, and the Big Bad was worried that Joyce was hiding another one behind the couch. “Yep. I got a lucky break.”

“What is it?” Willow grinned when Xander entered the room, but her happiness mellowed a bit when she saw that he was followed by Cordelia.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Buffy let out another undignified snort. “Is Xander there?”

Willow held the phone out to Xander. “It’s Buffy. She wants to talk.”

Xander took the phone. “What’s up, Buffy?”

“Angel and the others are holed up just outside of town. You remember that funky looking mansion you showed me on Crawford Street that one time?”

Xander nodded. “Yeah, sure. What’s the drill?”

“I’m gonna hit it at daybreak. I’ve recruited some backup.” Buffy glanced in at her mom and Spike again. Spike made a clubbing gesture, and she heard the words ‘get the hell away from daughter’. She wondered what they were talking about. “You stay with Willow. I can handle it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

The minion moved hesitantly into the room. He’d take Master Spike over Master Angelus any day. The younger Master vamp might be mercurial, but at least he didn’t torture the minions. “Uh, Master Angelus? The text has been translated.”

Angelus pulled his mouth away from Drusilla’s neck. “Excellent work. Tell us what it says.”

The minion shifted back and forth nervously. “It says you need the blood of four werewolves, Master Angelus. Two sets of mated pairs to be exact. Only then will the sacrifice be great enough to grant you the power you need.” 

Angelus rose to his feet to pace the room. He ignored the cowering minion while he pondered the situation. It had been revealed to him that he needed a tremendous amount of power to maintain Acathla’s vortex. Opening said vortex would be easy as soon as the Watcher told him how, but keeping it breached forever was something else entirely.

“I love the moon. Don’t you?” Drusilla cooed. “All big and full of blood and promises. Just like hospital wards.”

Angelus snapped his fingers. “I don’t know four werewolves, but I do know where to get one.” He turned to the minion. “Take the others out, and find a boy named Oz. He’s probably hanging with the Slayer’s little buddies. The red haired one Willow was hurt.” An evil smirk spread across his face. “Bring all of the Slayer’s friends to me. We’re going to have a little soiree.”

Drusilla clapped her hands. “Oh goodie. I just love a tea party. Can we have cake and cream?”

“Whatever your little heart desires, my sweet.” Angelus returned to Drusilla’s side. “When we have the werewolf infect his friends, we’ll make sure they get all mated up. Then, we’re going to rule this pathetic world, and every human on earth will be ours to play with.”

“You are so wicked, Daddy.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Both Joyce and Spike rose to their feet when Buffy entered the living room.

“Is Willow all right?” Joyce asked immediately.

Buffy crossed her arms in front of her chest, and she nodded. “Yeah. She’s fine.” She turned to Spike. “How are we going to do this?”

Spike gave Buffy a leering smirk while he looked her over from head to toe. “Well, I was going to ask if you’d let me and Dru skip town, but now I think I have myself a better offer.”

“Forget about Drusilla. She doesn’t walk,” Buffy snarled.

Spike tilted his head while he studied the Slayer. “What has your knickers in a bind about Dru?” he asked in a curious voice.

Buffy glared at Spike. “She killed Kendra.”

“Dru bagged a Slayer?” Spike chuckled when Buffy’s glare darkened even more. “Guess you’re a bit brassed off about that, huh?”

“You think?” 

Joyce got a relieved look on her face. “So, you didn’t kill that girl?”

“Of course not.” Buffy shook her head.

“Did she explode like that man out there?” Joyce took a drink out of her glass. She glanced down into the ice cubes long enough to realize she was out of alcohol. She looked back up in confusion.

“She was a Slayer. Like I am.”

“Are you sure you’re a vampire Slayer?” Joyce’s face was filled with bewilderment. She heard what her daughter said, but it hadn’t sunk in yet. “Have you tried not being a Slayer?”

“Doesn’t work that way, Mrs. Summers,” Spike replied. “Once a Slayer, always a Slayer.”

“It’s because you didn’t have a strong father figure, isn’t it?” Joyce’s mind tried to make sense of what she was hearing.

Buffy shook her head. “It’s just fate, Mom. I’m the Slayer. Accept it.”

Joyce brightened. “We should call the police. We know you’re innocent now.” She headed towards the kitchen.

“No, we’re not calling the police.” Buffy stepped in front of her mother. “We have no proof, just my word.”

Joyce stopped up short. “But, we have Spike. He can show them you’re telling the truth. I’m sure they’ll understand.”

“Mrs. Summers, if you involve the cops, you’ll get them killed,” Spike interrupted. “Angelus is a vicious animal. He has no qualms about killin’ anyone that stands in the way of what he wants.”

“”Mom, the cops can’t fight demons. They’re just not strong enough.” Buffy chewed on her lip. “I have to do this. It’s my duty.”

“Do what?” Joyce stared at her daughter in horror. “Buffy, what is happening?”

“Save the world. I have to go out there and save the world.”

“Why you?”

“It’s kinda my job.”

“Can’t someone else do it?”

Buffy glanced at Spike. The vampire was being awfully quiet for a change. “Kendra’s dead, and I have no idea where the new Slayer is. It’s me or nobody.”

“Let it be nobody. This is insane.” Joyce grabbed Buffy’s shoulders, but she dropped her hands again when Spike let out a dangerous growl. “Buffy, you need help.”

“I have help,” Buffy protested. “Spike’s helping me. We need to go before Angelus gets suspicious.” She moved away from her mother.

“No, I’m not letting you out of this house.” Joyce threw her glass of ice cubes, and it exploded in shards against the wall.

“You can’t stop me.” Buffy walked towards the front of the house with Spike behind her. 

Joyce’s next statement nearly made Buffy turn around. “If you walk out of this house with that man, don’t even think about coming back.”

Buffy gave her mother a sad look over her shoulder before she continued out the front door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Willow sat in her hospital bed with Oz sitting beside her in a chair. Xander sat across the room while Cordelia paced around the room. The dark-haired girl was filled with tension.

“So, Buffy’s going for the big showdown, huh?” Cordelia looked around at the other teenagers. “I wish we could help. You know, without dying.”

Suddenly several vampires burst into the room. Oz and Xander jumped to their feet while Cordelia stumbled over to the bed with Willow. 

“Master Angelus wants them all!” one of the vampires said. “Grab them.”


	4. Dancing

Chapter 4

Chapter 4, Dancing

Spike glanced sideways at the Slayer. He could tell she was trying hard not to cry, and for the life of him he couldn’t figure out why he wanted to comfort her. All he knew was that he should want to tear her throat out and bathe in her blood, but instead he found himself trying to come up with a way to make her feel better. She was a big, brilliant star that outshined the sun in this dismal life. Now she was being dimmed by the people surrounding her.

Spike cleared his throat. “The first time I saw you, you were dancin’ out there on the floor of the Bronze,” he said softly. “All I’d been told was that you were blond, but the moment I saw you I knew you were the one.”

Buffy rubbed one cheek before she looked at Spike. “I thought it was in the alley.”

“That was just a little test to see your skills, pet.” Spike shook his head. “No, the first time I laid eyes on you, you were swayin’ to the music with your friends. The spotlight made you glow.”

“Effulgent…” Buffy whispered. The word glow always made her think of a word she’d seen in a poem once. Of course, she’d looked effulgent up later since she hadn’t known what it meant at the time.

Spike stopped in his tracks. “What did you say?”

Buffy quit walking when Spike did. “There was this poem in English class a couple of years ago. Let’s see if I can remember it.” She concentrated hard. “My soul is wrapped in harsh repose…”

Spike put up one hand to stop her from saying the cursed words of a very painful reminder. “I can’t believe they published that drivel.”

“It wasn’t drivel. It’s beautiful.” Buffy sighed. She couldn’t believe what an idiot she had been to try and pretend she liked something when she had no idea what it was about. “I told a guy I liked poetry. So, I thought I better read some. I read what was in the text book first. I have to say though, I didn’t care for that Emily Dickens woman though.”

“Dickenson, pet.” Spike chuckled over Buffy’s mispronunciation of the poetess’ name. He wondered if she did the same thing for some of the more exotic demon names that existed. 

“Yeah, that’s the one.” Buffy nodded. She turned to Spike. “Why did you go along with me when I agreed with my mom about you being my boyfriend?”

Spike shrugged. “I don’t know, Slayer. Why did you? I fully expected you to deny it.”

Buffy blushed before she turned to start walking down the street again. “Wishful thinking,” she muttered under her breath.

“What was that?” Spike hurried to catch up with the Slayer. He grabbed her arm, and he swung her back around to face him. “What did you say, Buffy?”

Buffy looked up into the intense, questioning blue eyes of her mortal enemy. She slowly licked her lips before she answered in a soft voice, “I said wishful thinking.” Buffy watched the awareness flare in Spike’s eyes.

“I thought that’s what you said.” Spike pulled Buffy closer, and he leaned down to cover her lips with his own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Joyce stared at the door that her daughter disappeared through. Somewhere along the way she had lost control of the conversation, and in her anger, she’d said things that were unforgivable. Joyce stumbled towards the phone where she entered a familiar number. 

“Hello,” a masculine voice said from the other end of the receiver.

“Oh, Hank, what did we do?” Joyce murmured into the phone. She had other reasons for calling her ex-husband, but right now she was still in shock from Buffy’s revelations.

“Joyce?” Hank Summers was surprised to hear from his ex-wife. “What is going on?”

Joyce sighed. “I saw the proof with my own two eyes.”

“What proof? Joyce, have you been drinking?”

“Not until after I saw the proof myself.” Joyce glanced around for her glass. Now that her ex reminded her, she wanted another drink. “Vampires are real, Hank. Our daughter dates vampires.”

“We went through this with Buffy, Joyce,” Hank said in an exasperated voice. “Vampires are not real, and she’s not the Slayer.”

Joyce felt anger rise up in her body. Sometimes Hank was so condescending like he knew everything there was to know in the world. That was so obviously a lie in the face of recent events. Why had she let him convince her that Buffy was crazy in the first place back in Los Angeles? “Well, we were wrong, Hank! They do exist! She is the Slayer! She killed one right in front of me. I saw his body turn into dust. I sat in my living room with another one. The one your daughter is currently dating.”

“Is this some kind of revenge for divorcing you, Joyce?” Hank’s frustration grew. Joyce really got on his nerves sometimes. He wondered what hair was up her ass this time. “Are the alimony and child support payments not enough money for you?”

Joyce held the phone away from her ear to stare at it. She wanted to crawl through the wires to slap her ex-husband silly. “If I wanted revenge, Hank, I would call that little slut of yours to tell her she was far from the first time you strayed. She was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

“You knew?”

“Of course, I knew. I’m not stupid, no matter how many times you made me feel that way.” Joyce rolled her eyes. Maybe it was time to get down to the nitty gritty of the phone call. “This call is about Buffy and how we treated her while we were going through our divorce.”

“You never cared before.”

“Maybe I did, but I was too scared to say anything.” Joyce slammed her hand down on the counter. “Now, I want you to buck up, mister. Either you start treating our daughter better, or you won’t get to see here anymore. You missed your last two weekends, and I do not appreciate how you’re treating her.”

“You’re feeling guilty. What did you do?”

“Something stupid, but I have every plan on making it right as soon as possible.” Joyce narrowed her eyes. “You better start feeling more guilty yourself, Hank. There is only one Buffy in this world, and you’re breaking her heart.”

“I’ve been busy,” Hank rationalized his actions aloud.

“Buffy deserves better. Fix it! Fix it now!” Joyce slammed the phone down. She grabbed her glass, went to the living room, and poured herself a drink. Then, she sat down on the couch to come up with a plan on getting her daughter’s forgiveness.


	5. Thirty-two

Chapter 5, Thirty two

“Hold him still,” Angelus ordered the minions. He waited for them to steady Giles before he stepped closer with his weapon of choice. “Make sure his mouth is wide open.”

Giles struggled against the vampires, but he was no match for their strength. He stared at Angelus in horror when the dark-haired animal waved a pair of pliers in front of his face. 

In the corner, Anyanka moaned in despair. Her rescuer was in such big trouble, and there was nothing she could do about it.

“Did you know there are thirty two teeth including the wisdom teeth?” Angelus smirked at the squirming Watcher. “They have the hardest material in the human body, and yet, they are so sensitive. In my day, they didn’t have all those new fangled inventions like Novocain. If we needed a tooth pulled we were lucky if we got to be drunk.” He leaned in close to Giles’ face. “You won’t be that lucky.”

“Aaarrgghhh,” Giles moaned. He continued to struggle. He tried to ignore Anyanka, but her groans were distracting him from Angelus.

Angelus stood back up, and he twirled the pliers in his fingers. “You are going to tell me how to be worthy.”

“I ‘ell. I ‘ell,” Giles mumbled around the minion’s fingers.

Angelus waved his hand at the underlings who immediately let the human go.

Giles took in a breath of air. “In order to be worthy … “ he trailed off.

Angelus leaned down. “Yeah?”

Giles smirked at the vampire. “… you must perform the ritual…”

“Go on.”

“… in a tutu.” Giles spit in Angelus face. His head was flung back against the chair with a crack when Angelus back handed him.

In her corner, Anyanka burst out laughing. Giles had more tricks up his sleeve after all. She loved a man who could joke under torture.

“Open his mouth,” Angelus snarled. He bent over Giles with pliers in hand. “Time to lose the first of those pearly thirty two.”

Spike wheeled into the room. He noticed the mansion’s ghost standing in the corner watching the proceedings, but he ignored her. “Now, now, let’s not lose our temper.”

Angelus straightened up to sneer at the bleached blond vampire. “Keep out of it, sit’n spin.”

Spike rolled a little closer to Angelus with a sly look on his face. “Look, you remove those teeth, he’s gonna be bleedin’ too badly to get your answers.”

Angelus glared at Spike. “Since when did you become so levelheaded?”

“Right about the time you became so pig-headed.” Spike knew he had to do something to save the Watcher. His new ‘girlfriend’ wouldn’t be too happy with him if Giles died. After the kiss she’d laid on him, he didn’t want to do anything to mess up any future possibilities he had with the Slayer. He continued to speak to Angelus. “You have your way with him, and you’ll never get to destroy the world. Personally, I don’t fancy spendin’ the next month tryin’ to get librarian out of the carpet. There are other ways.”

“Enlighten me,” Angelus requested.

Spike called over his shoulder, “Drusilla? Sweetheart?” He waited until his Sire came up behind him, and she put her arms around him before he asked, “Do you want to play a little game?”

Then, Spike and Drusilla waited for Angelus response.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Buffy wandered around the library. Her eyes kept wandering back to the chalk outline on the floor. She hadn’t known Kendra that well, but it had been nice to have a sister Slayer rather than being alone for a change. Buffy wondered what would happen to Kendra now that she was dead. Did she have anyone that would mourn her? 

After a few more seconds of thought, Buffy crouched down to grab Kendra’s bag stored under the table. She heard the library doors open, and she scooted under the table to hide. She didn’t need any hassles at the moment. When she recognized the voices, she was absolutely sure she didn’t want the hassle.

“You do know this is a crime scene, don’t you?” Snyder’s voice reached Buffy’s ears. “Then again, your daughter’s a criminal, so that pretty much works out.”

“My daughter didn’t do it. The police will figure it out,” Joyce replied. “She was with her boyfriend at the time.”

“She has a boyfriend?” Snyder sneered. “He’s probably a juvenile delinquent just like her. Besides, in case you haven’t noticed the police of Sunnydale are deeply stupid.”

Joyce’s sly reply echoed through the room. “Well, you know Buffy’s boyfriend. I suppose he’s a delinquent. He’s a gang member on PCP after all.” She remembered the principal’s words from the parent-teacher night. “Didn’t you lose another science teacher that night? Mr. Haney, right?”

Snyder snarled at the woman. “It doesn’t matter what they find, she’s proved to be too much a liability for this school.” He took a deep breath. “These are the moments you want to savor. You wish time would stop so that you could live them over and over.”

There was silence for a few minutes before Joyce said, “Mr. Snyder, are you okay?” She snapped her fingers. “Mr. Snyder?” A few more seconds went by. “What the heck is wrong with him?” A few more minutes had her footsteps cross to the library door, walk down the hallway, and fade away.

Buffy crawled out from under the table to find Snyder frozen in the middle of the library. She grabbed Kendra’s duffle bag off the floor, and she gave the unmoving principal a wide berth while she exited the library herself. She was sure the janitor would find Snyder in a few hours. She didn’t have time to deal with him at that moment. She had an apocalypse to avert.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

A being that looked like Jenny Calendar swayed back and forth in front of Rupert Giles. However, he only had eyes for the wild gesturing Anyanka.

“Look at me,” Jenny said. She grabbed Giles’ hair. “Be in me. See with your heart.”

Anyanka made a frantic ‘go along with it’ gesture.

Giles’ eyes drifted back to Jenny, and he smiled. “Jenny! I thought I’d lost you.”

“Shhh, lover. I’ll never leave you.” Jenny’s quiet voice echoed in the silent room.

Giles tried to rise from his chair. “We have to get out of here.”

“We will, just as soon as you tell me if you told Angel about the ritual,” Jenny replied. She brushed her hand over his forehead, then down his cheek, and finally across his lips.

A fanatical smile crossed Giles’ face. “Of course I did, Jenny, but he didn’t believe me. All the best rituals are performed in tutus. You know that.”

“What?” Angelus shouted. “That can’t be the way things have to be done! No ritual is that evil.”

Spike let out a chuckle. “Guess it’s time to brush up on those ballet moves, mate.”

Another minion burst into the room, and he said in a loud voice, “Master Angelus, I have the werewolf and the others. They were alone in the hospital room. Where do you want us to put them?”

Angelus immediately crossed the room to the minion while Drusilla’s brief bout of sanity slipped away. While the other two vamps were occupied, Spike and Giles looked at each other in horror. At the same time, they both thought, _Buffy’s gonna be brassed off now._

“Put them in the south bedroom. As soon as the moon’s up, the wolf will infect the others.” Angelus gave an evil chuckle. “Then we’ll force them to mate. In the meantime, get me a tutu.”

“Yes, Master Angelus.” The minion bowed his head. He had no idea what Angelus wanted at tutu for, but he wasn’t stupid enough to ask.


	6. "Put the scissors down"

Chapter 6 “Put the scissors down!”

Buffy looked up when Whistler entered Giles’ apartment. She watched while he ambled around sniffing at bottles and opening the fridge. She stepped out of the shadows, and she smirked when he let out a small shriek. “Whistler. I’ve been waiting for you. What took you so damned long?”

Whistler’s eyes darted around the room. “You know you need the sword.”

“Of course I do, and now you’re going to tell me why.” Buffy picked up something up off the table. “You better start talking, or you’re going to be sorry.”

Whistler put his hands in the air. “Put the scissors down!”

“Talk.” Buffy’s eyes lifted to the fedora perched on the demon’s head. “Or the hat gets it.”

Whistler talked, and talked fast. “Angel’s the key. His blood will open the door to Hell. Acathla opens his big mouth and creates a vortex. Then, only Angel’s blood will close it. One blow will send them both back to Hell. However, I strongly suggest that you get there before that happens, because the faster you kill Angel, the easier it’s gonna be on you.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I got things covered.” Buffy smirked at Whistler before she tossed the scissors at him.

“It’s all on the line here, kid.”

“It always is.” Buffy shrugged. “I can deal.”

“Let’s just hope your little friends can.”

Buffy stepped towards the smelly demon. She wrinkled her nose in disgust at his stench. “You’re really getting on my bad side.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Angelus rubbed his hands together. “I love it when a plan comes together.” He grabbed Drusilla by the arm. “Hey, sit’n spin. Dru and I are gonna go have some fun. Why don’t you take out the trash here?”

Spike waited until Angelus dragged Drusilla from the room before he closed the door, and he turned his wheelchair around to face Giles. He raised an eyebrow when the ghost rushed towards him. Being incorporeal she passed right through him.

“Don’t you hurt him! He’s going to rescue me from this hell!”

“Settle down, Casperette. I’m not plannin’ on eatin’ the Watcther.” 

Giles looked up at the bleached blond, and he let out a gasp when Spike stood up. He had noticed that the scars the younger Scoobies said were on the vampire’s face were gone. “Spike, what the bloody hell is going on?”

“Don’t get your knickers in a bind, Watcher. I promised the Slayer I’d keep you safe. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know that her little friends are here now.” Spike moved to Giles’ side. “She’s on her way here to face Angelus. We need to get everyone out of here.”

“Oh goodie. I’m Anyanka, patron saint of scorned women.” The incorporeal woman clapped her hands together.

“I don’t understand,” Giles protested when Spike started to tear away the ropes. “Why are you helping Buffy? I thought you wanted to kill her?”

Spike leered at Giles. “Things change. She’s my new girlfriend.” With a wiggle of his eyebrows, he continued to untie the older man while ignoring Giles’ astonished look.

“What?” Giles’ voice rose.

“Shush, or they’ll hear you over the orgasms,” Anyanka grumbled. “You two are my ticket out of this hell hole.”

Spike chuckled. “The Slayer’s mum caught us plannin’ and jumped to the wrong conclusion. We just went along with the lady’s fine assumption.” There was no way he was telling Buffy’s Watcher about the toe-curling kiss she had laid on him.

Giles studied the vampire for a few moments. It was an odd turn of events, but they didn’t have time for arguments now. There were Scoobies to rescue and an apocalypse to avert. Maybe this was some of that chaos that Anyanka caused. It was sure to blow over soon. “Well, then, let’s get the lady’s jewelry and stage a rescue, shall we?”

“Lead on, oh mighty leader.” Spike half-bowed at the waist, and he made a glorious gesture towards the door.

“Pillock,” Giles muttered. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Is there anything in here that can be used for a weapon?” Xander looked around the barren room.

Willow blushed before she took her hand out from beneath her bathrobe. “The nurse left these on my bedside table. I grabbed them when the vamps attacked us.” In her hand lay a pair of scissors used to cut medical tape.

“Not exactly sure what we can do with those?” Cordelia grumbled. She didn’t notice the hurt look that crossed Willow’s face because her eyes were on the door. She pointed. “The knob is turning.”

The four teens huddled together against the wall furthest from the door. When the door swung open, they were surprised to see an ambulatory Spike saunter into the room. He gave them a smirking leer.

“Howdy, boys and girls, are you ready for some fun?”

Willow shivered under the vampire’s cool gaze. She bravely pulled the scissors and brandished them at Spike. Her jaw dropped in complete amazement when Giles appeared behind Spike. The Watcher simply slapped the vampire across the back of the head as he entered the room. “Put the scissors down! We’re here to help you escape.”

“What’s he doing here?” Xander screeched while he pointed at Spike.

Spike smirked at the posturing boy. “I’m Buffy’s new boyfriend.” Damn, if he didn’t get pleasure from saying that over and over. The looks he kept getting were making his evil heart swell with pride.

Behind the two Brits, Anyanka was busy caressing and cooing to her pendant. She was solid again, and she owed it all to a man. She wasn’t sure she liked beholding to a man, but she felt obligated to Giles for the save.

“We need a distraction for the minions,” Spike said.

“What about … “ Willow trailed off. She gave Spike a nervous glance. “What are they doing?”

“Shaggin’.” Spike wrinkled his nose. “If Giles and Anyanka provide a bit of magic, we should be able to sneak out the window without any problems.” He moved to the boarded up window where he waved for Oz to join him. “Cause some chaos, mage boy.”

Giles rolled his eyes. “It’s like dealing with Los Angeles Buffy all over again.”

The Scoobies watched the proceedings with curious eyes and questioning minds. Why was Spike, known Slayer killer, helping them? What was in it for him? Why did he dress like a ‘80’s reject? That was Cordelia, by the way.

While Anyanka and Giles caused the minions to fall asleep, Spike and Oz ripped the boards off the window. Then, the humans climbed outside followed by Anyanka and Spike. They dashed towards the street where about two blocks away they found Buffy gathering up her courage.

The Slayer’s face lit up when she saw the group. Her eyes immediately went to Spike, and a bright smile broke out across her face.

“Buffy, we need to talk,” Xander growled.


	7. Fanfiction

Chapter 7 , Fanfiction

“Buffy, we need to talk,” Xander growled.

“What are you guys doing here?” Buffy looked at her friends. “I thought you were at the hospital.” 

“Spike said he’s your boyfriend,” Xander shouted at Buffy, ignoring her questions. “What are you thinking? Wasn’t one vampire enough for you? Why can’t you date a normal guy?”

“Angelus kidnapped us,” Cordelia said with a disgruntled sniff. “I know I said I wanted to help, but that wasn’t what I had in mind.”

“Sorry, Cordelia.” Buffy grimaced. “I figured Angelus would go after me not you guys.”

Giles looked around a bit nervous. “Can we not do this here? It’s only a matter of time before Angelus realizes we’ve escaped.” He herded the younger people away from Crawford Street.

“Spike being my boyfriend wasn’t my idea.” Buffy tried to explain. “Mom jumped to the conclusion, and it was just easier to go along with it.”

“Your mom knows you’re dating another vampire?” Xander shook his head in denial.

Buffy glanced over her shoulder at Giles with a worried look on her face. There was definitely something wrong with Xander. He was acting so jealous and off centered. “We dusted a vamp in front of her, and I had to spill the beans.”

“How did that go over?” Giles asked.

“Lead balloon time,” Buffy said with a dry chuckle. “I am now homeless.”

“Not if I can help it,” Spike said softly. He would find a way to rent a hotel room if he had to, but there was no way the Slayer would be on the street.

Xander grumbled under his breath the entire way back to the high school. Everyone ignored him until Spike finally piped up with a comment.

“You sure are a jealous little git, aren’t you?” Spike chuckled. He sauntered along, preening with evil joy.

Buffy smacked Spike on the back of the head before she glared at Xander. “You should be grateful that Spike decided to help Giles and you guys. He could have just left you there, you know.”

“What’s that got to do with you dating somebody normal?” Xander stopped in his tracks. He let out a snarl. “Come on, Buff, smell the coffee. Can’t you see he’s just using you?”

“Well, I’m using him too. He’s helping me take down Angelus and the wonder ho,” Buffy nearly shouted. She knew Xander was jealous of Angel, but this was ridiculous. She had never given him any reason to think that she was interested in him. “God, Xander, what is it with you and normal? Are you planning on writing some Buffy fan fiction where you Gary Sue yourself up and pair yourself with me?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Xander replied in a haughty manner. He glanced at Willow while he wondered if his red-headed friend had spilled the beans about the notebook hidden under his mattress.

“You’ve been pushing the whole normal thing since I showed up in Sunnydale. I’m just not interested in you, Xander. You’re my friend, not my lover.” Buffy rubbed her head with one hand. “Besides, I’ve given up on normal. That’s just not me.”

Xander shook his head. “I’m not sitting around here and listening to this.” He turned the other Scoobies. “Come on, girls.” 

Cordelia gave Buffy an uncertain look before she and Willow followed Xander out of the room. Oz waited for a few seconds. “Could be a worse choice,” he said with an indifferent shrug of his shoulders. “I don’t care just as long as you’re happy. I better go keep an eye on them.” Then, he ambled out of the library behind the other Scoobies.

Buffy sighed in regret. “So, Giles, are you abandoning me too?”

“Not hardly, my dear.” Giles patted Buffy on the shoulder. “Spike and I had a small conversation while rescuing the other children. We’ve come to an agreement.”

Buffy looked back and forth between the two most important men in her life. “What agreement was that?” Was it possible that she’d found a small silver lining in this whole mess that was her life?

Giles gave Spike a glare. “As long as Spike doesn’t hurt you…”

“And the Watcher doesn’t hurt you.” Spike returned the glare. “I’ve heard about what the Council tries on a Slayer’s eighteenth birthday, you know.”

“Then, we’ll get along just fine,” Giles continued. 

“Who’s your new friend, Giles?” Buffy craned around the Brits to look at the woman cooing at the medallion in her hands.

Giles glanced over at Anyanka. He was surprised that the vengeance demon hadn’t popped away from them as soon as they had cleared the mansion. “This is Anyanka. She’s a vengeance demon that was bound to Angelus’ mansion until Spike and I retrieved her amulet. Anyanka, come meet the Slayer.”

Anyanka looked up from her pendant, and she slowly put the chain around her neck. “She’s not going to slay me, is she?”

“Only if you try to kill, eat, or lay eggs in Giles’ body,” Buffy quipped. 

“Now wait a minute,” Giles protested. “I think you have me confused with Xander the demon magnet.”

“Demon magnet?” Spike’s eyes sparked with demonic mirth. “Now there’s a tale I need to hear.”

“I’ll tell you later,” Buffy laughed. “Right now, we need to decide what to do about Angel. Is he back at the mansion making the world go to hell as we speak?”

Giles let out a snort that was echoed by Spike. “No, I was able to convince him that he needs to do the ritual in a tutu.”

“I want a picture of that,” Spike muttered. “That’ll be blackmail fodder for centuries to come.”

“You need to make sure he doesn’t get his hands on that werewolf too,” Anyanka stated.

“Oh boy, forgot that.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Xander swung around to face the other Scoobies. “Buffy has no right to do this to us!”

Cordelia and Oz glanced at each other. Xander had his nose out of joint much more than he should. If it wasn’t for the fact that Cordelia knew Buffy harbored no romantic feelings for Xander, she might have felt jealous. Instead, all she felt was that maybe she didn’t know Xander all that well at all. “What is your damage?”

Xander threw his hands in the air. “Don’t you get it, Cordy? She’s dating another vampire. The last one has tried to kills us over and over the last few weeks. Now she’s dating one that also tried to kill us from the moment he stepped into town.”

“Not our business,” Oz commented. He didn’t like the fact that Xander felt he should have some control over who Buffy dated. Sure, Spike had tried to kill them before, but he’d also rescued them that very night. That told the werewolf that maybe things had changed for the blond vampire.

“It will be if he tries to eat us,” Xander said between clenched teeth. “Something has to be done about this. It’s up to us to make sure that Buffy returns to normal by any means necessary.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Diana Dormer stalked into the bedroom where her Slayer was lying on the bed. She pulled her suitcase out of the closet. “Get your stuff together, Faith. We’re going to Sunnydale.”

Faith gave her Watcher a lazy look. “Thought Sunnydale already had a Slayer. That Buffy chick.”

“Yes, but apparently there’s an apocalypse going on, and the Council wants us there.”

Faith grimaced before she rose slowly to her feet. She sauntered over to Diana where she cupped the older woman’s face in her hands. “You worry too much, baby. It sounds like road trip time to me. I’ve always wanted to check out Vegas.”

Diana’s eyes glazed over when Faith dragged her thumbs across the older woman’s lips. “Stop, Faith. We can’t do this again.”

Faith nibbled on her lower lip. “Nobody needs to know, baby.” She used her strength to pull the woman’s face down to her own where she covered Diana’s lips with her own.


	8. Racing back home

Chapter 8, racing back home

“Is that why he kidnapped the Scoobies? Because he needed a werewolf? Why?” Buffy asked.

“I was eavesdropping. There wasn’t much else to do,” Anyanka said. “Apparently he needed the blood of two mated werewolf couples to help perform the ritual. Being bound to a building tends to let you know what’s going on everywhere.”

“Good to know,” Buffy nodded. “So, what else do we need to do besides make sure Angelus doesn’t get a hold of Oz again?”

“Spring for dance lessons,” Spike suggested. “Make sure all the tutus in Sunnyhell are purple and sparkly.”

Buffy suddenly envisioned Angelus wearing a purple, sparkling tutu over his leather pants. She covered her mouth as giggles spilled forth. “Oh, that would be hilarious. I wish there was a way to see that.” Then she let out a huge yawn.

“Looks like the Slayer’s adrenaline rush is over.” Spike eyed the suddenly tired young woman. “Since I doubt she can go back to her mum’s tonight, and I have no plans to go back to the mansion, it looks like we’ll have to find someplace else to crash.”

“How about a hotel?” Buffy said. “The Sunnydale Motor Inn is pretty cheap.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Spike tilted his head towards the industrial part of town. “My car’s parked down by the warehouse the Watcher here tried to burn down. We can pick it up on the way.”

“Okay,” Buffy replied. “I’m really pooped. I’m ready to lie down.” She gave Giles a small hug before she and Spike set out for the factory area.

“Well, we might as well go inside,” Giles said. “If we’re lucky Snyder has vacated the premises.”

Anyanka nodded. “Who is this Snyder person?”

“Slimy little troll that rules the school like it’s his own little kingdom,” Giles said with great bitterness. He pushed the front door of the school open. Together they strolled through the quiet, shadow-filled halls to the library. Giles entered the library first, and Anyanka ran into his back when he stopped in front of her.

“What is wrong with Snyder?” Giles whispered the rhetoric question.

Anyanka circled around the stunned Watcher. She let out a haughty sniff of disdain. “Looks like Azriel’s work if you ask me. She always had a thing for little trolls. I wonder what he wished for.”

“Must be something good,” Giles murmured. “Look at that grin.”

Anyanka glanced at the frozen man’s face. “Yeah, must be. Now what do we do?”

“I suppose we should call someone to come get him.” Giles moved towards the library phone. “Problem is, who. Maybe I better ring up Mrs. Felix. She might know who his next of kin is.”

“Well, that is a face only a mother could love,” Anyanka said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

The minion knocked softly on the bedroom door. “Master Angelus, the Watcher kidnapped Master Spike and helped the prisoners escape.”

Angelus lifted his face from Drusilla’s breasts. “What? How the hell did that happen?”

“I don’t know, Master Angelus. They left the wheelchair though. He won’t be any good to them.”

Angelus sighed. “This is putting a kink in my plans. I need to figure out something that doesn’t require werewolves or tutus. Yet, it has to have artistry and beauty.” He rose from the bed where Drusilla gave him a pleading look that he ignored.

Angelus pulled on his leather pants and his duster. He needed to go out for a bite to eat while he thought about a solution to his problems.

Drusilla let out a puff of air. Sometimes being the girlfriend of a master vampire wasn’t a piece of cake. _Hm, cake. Maybe I should have tea with Miss Edith._ Then, the dark haired vampiress crawled out of bed unmindful of her state of dress.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“This is your baby?” Buffy wrinkled her nose. The car was old, dusty, and had painted windows.

Spike wagged a finger at the young woman. “Watch it, Slayer. I’ve had this beauty for more years than you’ve been alive.”

“I believe it,” Buffy said. “So, where do you park it when you’re out of country? I know you were in Prague. Giles told us that reports said Drusilla died there.”

“Had a friend who kept it for me,” Spike said. He opened the rider’s door for Buffy. “Won this sweet thing in a poker game back in the fifties, or I might have dusted the owner in a bar fight. I was really drunk that year.”

Buffy slid into the front seat, and she realized the interior wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be. It was actually pretty clean if not a bit smoky smelling from Spike’s cigarettes. Her life changed so drastically in the last few hours. Never in her wildest imagination did she ever think she’d be getting in Spike’s car of her own free will.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

THE NEXT MORNING

“Mom should be off to work by now,” Buffy said in a soft voice. Her hands twisted back and forth in her lap.

Spike reached over to cover the Slayer’s hands with one of his own. He felt at odds with the possessiveness that overwhelmed his system. Man and demon, heart and mind, all were in agreement. The Slayer was his. His grandsire might have gotten in the first poke, but come hell or high water, the girl was Spike’s now.

“I just don’t know where we’ll be going though.” Buffy sounded lost. “How long can we really stay at the Sunnydale Motor Inn?”

“You let me worry about that, pet. I’ll think of something.” Spike gave Buffy’s hands one last squeeze before he turned his attention to his driving. With a squeal of tires, they peeled out.

They raced back to Buffy’s home to collect some of her things. While she was inside, Spike decided he’d spend the money for a better hotel room than what was offered at the mangy little hotel they had checked into the night before. After all, Buffy was the type of girl who deserved the amenities.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“I don’t like how Xander and Willow are acting,” Cordelia said to Oz. They stood at the water fountain watching their significant others whispering half way down the school hallway. “Xander is much too interested in Buffy’s business. He’s ignoring me. Nobody ignores me.”

Oz let out a small grunt. He was concentrating on what the two friends were saying, and he had to agree with Cordelia about how Xander was acting. “He’s jealous.”

“I get that, but what made him go bonkers all of a sudden.” Cordelia let out a sigh. “It’s like his jealousy took steroids, and the rest of us are caught in the wake.”

“Chaos in the air. I can smell it.” Oz glanced at Cordelia. “We need to pick our side soon.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Cordelia muttered. “I don’t think Xander will be too happy with my choice.”


	9. A swimming pool

Chapter 9, a swimming pool 

“Yeah, I get that,” Cordelia muttered. “I don’t think Xander will be too happy with my choice.”

“There she is,” Oz said under his breath. He watched while Xander and Willow converged on Buffy. “Let the fireworks begin.” He moved forward towards the others, and he knew Cordelia was right on his heels.

“Why are you doing this to us?” Xander hissed. He grabbed Buffy’s arm, and he jerked her around. “You’re the Slayer. You’re supposed to be better than the rest of us. You have this higher calling that some of us have only dreamed about having.”

Buffy tugged her arm away from Xander. “I’m still a person, Xander. I never asked for all this, and I’m doing the best I can.” She threw a tight lipped smile at Oz before she turned to rush down the hall towards the library.

“You’re causing bad karma,” Oz said.

“Really bad karma,” Cordelia echoed. “Everyone knows bad karma is bad for the complexion.”

Over the loudspeaker, an announcement blared. “Students and faculty, this is Vice Principal Beverly Palmetto. Last night, Principal Snyder had an unfortunate accident.” A yell of approval sounded throughout the halls. “Until further notice, I will be the acting principal. If anyone has any issues, please feel free to stop by the main office where the secretary will sign you up to see our brand new trauma counselor.”

Buffy halted at the library doors. She took a deep breath before she pushed open the doors with more calm than she felt. “Morning, Giles,” she called out.

“Buffy, we’re in here,” Giles answered, his voice coming from his office.

When Buffy entered the smaller room, she found Giles sitting at his desk with Amy Madison sitting in the other chair. “Hey, Amy. How are you?” she greeted the witch.

Amy nodded her head with a small smile. “I’m doing well, Buffy. Thanks.”

“Amy is worried about the chaos that was caused by Anyanka and myself last night,” Giles replied. “Some of the side effects might be bringing out the worst in people.”

“You mean like Xander and his over the top jealousy?” Buffy nodded. “I’ve already ran into it this morning.”

“Anyanka and I tried to reverse the chaos this morning but to no avail,” Giles continued. “She has gone to find out what has gone wrong.”

Anyanka appeared behind Buffy with a pop. “I can tell you exactly what went wrong. It’s Azriel. She’s Hoffy’s current favorite vengeance demon. She’s taken the chaos, and she’s using it to her own ends.”

“Can we stop her?” Buffy asked. “And who’s Hoffy?”

Anyanka shook her head. “Hoffy’s the head vengeance demon. The only way to distract Azriel is if you can find something more fun for her to play with.”

“Is she the one that froze Principal Snyder?” Giles asked. 

“Yeah, she’s the one.” Anyanka nodded.

The first bell of the day rang. Amy and Buffy left for class while Giles and Anyanka brainstormed for a solution to the chaos problem. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Joyce entered her home after work with trepidation. She wasn’t sure if she wanted Buffy to be there or not. All she knew was that she wanted her daughter back home again. She went about the routine of taking off her jacket, hanging it up, and putting her purse and keys onto the foyer table. Joyce was startled when there was a knock on the door. She took a deep breath before she went to open it. Outside on the porch stood her ex-husband Hank Summers.

“I’m here,” Hank replied. 

“So, I see,” Joyce said in a cool voice. “Maybe I shouldn’t have been so accommodating when we were married. You seem to do better when someone tells you what to do.”

“I-I don’t know what you m-mean,” Hank stammered. He felt aroused by this different side of his ex-wife.

Joyce glared at the tall, gangly man. She recognized his excitement cues from the way his body twitched. The hand that jerked towards his crotch, but didn’t connect was the biggest tell. Maybe she could use this to her advantage. “You will go inside, and you will sit on the couch like a good little boy. Then, you will listen to what I have to say without any interruptions. Do you understand?” She waited for Hank to twitch again, and she smiled to herself when she saw what she was looking for.

Hank swallowed back his retort, and he nodded. When his ex-wife stepped back from the doorway and gestured for him to enter, he bolted into the house. The living room was on his immediate left where he easily found the couch. Hank perched on the edge while he waited for Joyce to follow him into the room.

Joyce blinked in surprise at how fast Hank rushed to obey her. Too bad she hadn’t known he needed a firm hand years before. She slowly closed the door before she moved into the living room too. Joyce stood in front of Hank with a no nonsense glare on her face. “Now, you will check into a hotel here in Sunnydale. You will stay here in town until our daughter is back at home where she belongs. When that happens you will convince the girl that you love her beyond everything else in your life. Is that clear?”

Hank nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

Joyce’s cool gaze swept down Hank’s body to the bulge in his pants. “Now, what do you have to say for yourself?”

“W-what do you m-mean?” Hank stammered much like he had earlier.

Joyce’s glower turned colder. “You told me that I didn’t make you hard any more. Yet, you come to my house with that.” She gestured towards Hank’s erection.

“I don’t know, ma’am,” Hank said with a blush. He pressed his legs together, and he bent his body over to hide his arousal from the dominant woman in front of him.

“What do you think you’re doing? I didn’t say you could hide yourself from me,” Joyce growled. She was really getting into this now. It made her wonder if she could get some of her own back with her ex-husband. When Hank reluctantly exposed himself again, Joyce felt an awesome sense of power sweep through her. “I want you on your knees in front of me, Hank. Now!”

Hank fell on the floor in front of his ex-wife. He had no idea why he was letting her do this. He just hoped she’d have mercy on his poor throbbing cock. “I’m yours to command, ma’am.”

A smirk graced Joyce’s face. “Yes, you are. What should I have you do first?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Spike watched Buffy paddle around the swimming pool. She’d had a bad day at school dealing with Xander and all of his jealousy. He was glad the hotel he picked had a lot of midweek vacancies. As soon as it had gotten dark, Spike and Buffy checked out the hotel’s numerous amenities. He and the Slayer had been at pool’s edge for almost an hour without interruptions.

“The water is nice, Spike,” Buffy called out. “Nobody’s around. They won’t know you stripped down to your undies.” She gave the vampire a teasing grin.

“Are you tryin’ to find out if I’m wearin’ boxers or briefs, Slayer?” Spike smirked at Buffy when she blushed bright red.

“No!” Buffy protested. “I just thought you’d enjoy taking a dip.”

“Don’t you be fibbin’, luv.” Spike shook his finger at Buffy. “You’ll be in for a big surprise if I come in there with you.”

Buffy rolled her eyes. She made a couple of more laps around the hotel pool before she held a hand out of the water to wiggle her fingers at Spike for help out. When the vampire took her hand, Buffy pulled hard against him.

Spike only had a moment to realize his mistake before he found himself plunging into the tepid pool water. He struggled to the surface, spluttering water as he did. He glared at the giggling Slayer. “You’re in for it now, missy.”

“Oh, I’m so scared,” Buffy teased. “The big bad vampire is after me.” She raised her hands in playful defense.

“You better be scared.” Spike plowed though the water. He buried one hand in Buffy’s hair, and the other grasped at her barely clad hip. He gazed down at her with heated blue eyes.

“I am scared.” Buffy bit her bottom lip, and she dragged her teeth along the soft flesh. “I’m scared that if you don’t kiss me now I’m going to be very grumpy.”

“Can’t have a grumpy Slayer on my hands!” Spike leaned down to kiss the Slayer for the second time ever. Her sweet taste burst on his taste buds when his tongue swept across her open mouth. He tightened his grip on her hip while he pulled her even closer to rub his denim clad cock against her barely covered mound.


	10. Conversations with crazy people

Chapter 10 Conversations with Crazy People

Diana pulled the car off the highway into the truck stop with Faith asleep in the passenger seat. She parked in front of the tiny coffee shop, and she just sat with her hands gripping the steering wheel. How the hell did she get herself into these things? It didn’t matter to Diana that Faith had been the one to make the advances. She was the older, more responsible one of the two. She was a Watcher, damn it.

“You’re thinking too much,” a sleepy voice said. Faith sat up, and she rubbed her eyes before she looked around. “Where are we?”

Diana shrugged. “You hungry?”

“Always, baby.”

Diana rolled her eyes. “I meant for food. We need to ask about a hotel while we’re here.”

“Let’s hope we don’t get any idiots thinking because we’re two women travelling alone that we’re easy marks,” Faith grumbled, eyeing the truck stop customers through the window.

“Not everyone is out to get us, Faith.” Diana opened her door. 

“Only the demons, vamps, and occasional ghoul,” Faith quipped while she opened her own door. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* 

Angelus threw the book across the room. Things were not going the way he planned. Giles hadn’t been as helpful as he had hoped. Then, the Watcher along with the Scoobies escaped. Now, Spike had disappeared from the mansion. On top of everything else, Angelus was no closer to finding a solution to his Acathla problem. There was no way he was going to wear a tutu, and now the werewolf was on the alert for the minions.

“What on earth do they need with a crippled vamp?” Angelus grumbled. It never crossed his mind that Spike was mobile and a willing participant in the Scooby’s escape. He assumed that they took Spike as some kind of collateral. Boy, did they have another thing coming. He could care less about Spike.

“The moon and sun dance together beneath a werewolf moon.” Drusilla waltzed around the room with her favorite doll. “It started with a bang, you know. Miss Edith said so.”

“What are you talking about?” Angelus asked in an exasperated tone. Drusilla had been crazier than usual the past few days.

Drusilla smiled dreamily. “I dreamed about thirty-two pairs of scissors. Snip, snip.” She pretended to cut Miss Edith’s hair. “I remember it all. Bands and boyfriends. Hell on the old skins.”

“Can’t you make sense?” Angelus growled. Quite frankly he had enough of this nonsense. Why he’d thought a crazy seer was a good idea in the first place he’d never know. He was such an idiot at times. Not that he’d ever admit that aloud.

“I want to go race back home, Daddy!” Drusilla screamed. “They changed everything with the stormy weather.”

Angelus gripped his hair with his hands, ignoring the fact that he was messing up his gel. “Fuck, I wish Spike was here.”

“Wish granted.”

Angelus looked up to see who spoke the words just in time to see a soaking wet Spike appear in the room. The younger vampire took one look at his grandsire, and he crumbled to the ground. Angelus raised an eyebrow. “The Slayer and her little band of do-gooders kidnapped you to give you a bath?”

Spike was glad the smell of chlorine covered the Slayer’s scent. Then, he was glad he had the presence of mind to fall to the ground before Angelus realized he was able to move on his own. “What the bloody hell was that?” he asked. “First the Slayer was tryin’ to use water torture on me to get info on your pet rock, and now I’m here.”

“We rescued you from the swimming pool of fanfiction,” Drusilla cried out.

Spike hid his surprise at Drusilla’s mention of fanfiction. If Buffy hadn’t made such an off-the-wall statement about the same thing just hours before to the Scoobies he wouldn’t have noticed Drusilla’s comment.

Angelus squatted by Spike, and he hissed, “Do something with her. It’s like having a conversation with a crazy person.” He rose to his feet and leave the room.

In a moment of lucidity, Drusilla looked at Spike with puzzlement. “Doesn’t he know I am crazy?”

“Haven’t a clue, poodle.” Spike shrugged. “I’ve given up on tryin’ to figure out old Peaches. Now, can you find me a minion or two to help me to m’room?”

Drusilla nodded absentmindedly. Her attention was still on the door where Angelus had left the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

One minute Buffy was kissing Spike for all she was worth, and the next she was standing empty armed. She fell forward into the water. She rose from the depths sputtering and furious. “What the hell happened to Spike?” 

Buffy glanced around before she waded to the ladder. While she climbed out of the pool, an idea dawned on her. “Anyanka,” she called out. “Can you hear me?”

Anyanka appeared at the edge of the pool. “You look like a drowned rat,” she commented.

“Yeah, that’s what happens when you’re kissing one minute and not the next.” Buffy crossed to a nearby lounge chair where she picked up a towel. While she dried her hair, she explained what happened. “Spike suddenly disappeared. Did that Azzie demon chick do something to him?”

“Hmmm.” Anyanka glanced around with a look of concentration on her face. “I think she did. She’s being careless though. I can track him pretty easily.”

“Where is he?” Buffy asked in a hard and steely voice.

“Looks like he’s back at the mansion.”

“What?” Buffy screeched. “How did he get there?” Then, she held a hand up. “I know. I know. A wish, but who at the mansion would wish him there?”

“Not sure. Is there anything else?”

Buffy shook her head, even as she was making plans. She hoped she could sneak up to the mansion to find Spike to make sure he was okay. She thought about sending Anyanka, but going to Crawford Street would give Buffy something to do. “Just tell Giles about Spike, and I’ll be by to see him after patrol.”

“I can do that,” Anyanka said with a bright smile. She disappeared from sight.

Buffy went back to the hotel room where she changed into dark patrol clothes. She bypassed the cemeteries, and she went straight to Crawford Street. Buffy stood on one end in the shadows while she watched the minions, Angelus, and Drusilla leave the mansion for a night of hunting. She snuck down the street until she was able to creep along the side of the building before she finally reached a point where she could feel Spike’s signature inside the house. She rapped on the boards that covered his window. “Spike,” she hissed.

“Slayer,” Spike’s hushed voice answered. “What the bloody hell are you doing here?”

“Anya told me you were here,” Buffy said. “I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“Just peachy, pet. Now that I’m here, I’m stuck again for a bit, but maybe I can find out what’s on Angelus’ agenda,” Spike replied.

Buffy let out a sigh. “I don’t like it.”

“I’m a big boy vamp, Slayer,” Spike chuckled. “I think I can handle Angelus.”

“I know, but I hate my boyfriend being in danger.”

“I’ll be fine,” Spike assured the young woman. His chest tightened with emotion. Despite everything, including his being a vampire, Buffy still thought of him as her boyfriend. He thought he might burst from happiness. “I’ll come visit you tomorrow after dark at our hotel room.”

“Okay, but I don’t like it.”

“You said that, luv.”

“It’s worth saying again.” Buffy looked around to check for minions. “I need to patrol. Then, I’m off to see Giles.”

“You be careful, luv.” Spike leaned against the wall. “I like my girlfriend just the way she is.”

“Ditto. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Buffy snuck off the way she had come in, staking several stupid minions on her way out.

After a quick patrol of the cemeteries where Buffy caught up with a few more minions, she went on to the high school to report in to Giles. When she entered the hallway near the library, she could hear Xander shouting at Giles.

“You have to stop this insanity, Giles,” the dark-haired boy yelled. “Buffy’s the Slayer. She needs to act like one.”

“Xander’s right,” Willow’s quiet voice echoed her friend’s assessment. “Buffy needs to do her job and stake Angelus.”

Buffy burst into the library. “Why do you keep doing this to me?”


	11. Why do you keep doing this to me?

Chapter 11, Why do you keep doing this to me?

“Why do you keep doing this to me?” Buffy screamed at Xander. “I don’t want to live on some damned pedestal!”

“Then quit your Jones-ing after the vamps!” Xander growled in a quiet, vicious voice. “It’s disgusting.”

“My life and my call, Xander,” Buffy said from between gritted teeth. Her fists were clenched at her side in anger.

“Don’t expect me to hang around.” Xander crossed his arms over his chest. He glanced at the other Scoobies who had been watching the argument in silence. “Right, Willow?”

Willow’s eyes darted from Buffy’s face to Xander’s. She had no idea what to do. Then, she glanced at Oz. Willow knew that Oz wasn’t nearly as upset as Xander over Buffy’s easy acceptance of Spike in her life. She was completely torn between her oldest, dearest friend and the boy she was falling in love with.

Xander glared at the hesitant Willow. “Right, Willow!? Good old Buff’s going to ask us to go into that creature’s lair and fight her fight again.”

“You know what? Never mind.” Buffy turned to leave the library. She should have known better than to expect her so called friends to help. It was obvious they were only the fair weather kind anyway, except Giles of course. “Giles and Spike will help me. That’ll just have to be enough.”

“I’ll help!” Cordelia’s voice rang out in the quiet room.

Xander stared at his shallow, stuck-up girlfriend in shock. Not once did he ever expect Cordelia ‘the Queen C’ Chase to help Buffy with anything that might involve blood, goo, and broken nails.

Cordelia moved to where Buffy had stopped her departure. “This whole ‘hell on earth’ thing would put too much of a crimp in my shopping.”

Buffy chuckled. “I agree. Somehow I don’t think they have Venti Jalav in hell.”

“Oh, my God, you’ve had one of those, too? Aren’t they to die for?” Cordelia’s voice was light even though the matter was serious. She wanted Buffy to know that she was willing to follow the Slayer.

“Yeah, last summer when I visited my Dad in Los Angeles I’d get one every night after patrol.” Buffy touched Cordelia’s arm. “They’re to kill for if you have them add extra vanilla and whipped cream on top.”

During the exchange between Buffy and Cordelia, Oz moved to their side too. He arched a challenging eyebrow at Willow who just blushed. Oz gave a nonchalant shrug when Willow refused to move from Xander’s side, even though he felt like his heart was turning black and blue from the bruising. 

“I think it’s time you and Willow left, Xander.” Giles stepped up behind Buffy, and he put his hands on her shoulders in a show of support.

Xander pointed at Buffy. “This is not over!” He grabbed Willow’s arm. Together they stormed out of the room.

Once outside the door, Willow asked, “What are you planning, Xander?”

“If she won’t listen to reason, we’ll make her see it,” Xander grunted. “Let’s go find Amy Madison!”

Back inside the library, the remaining Scoobies watched the swinging doors with trepidation.

“They’re going to try something stupid, you know,” Cordelia commented. She was still a little stunned that she stepped to Buffy’s side instead of foregoing helping like she normally would have.

“It won’t be the first time,” Giles replied. “You do remember Valentine’s Day a few months ago, don’t you?”

Cordelia grimaced with a nod. “Oh yeah, what a disaster.”

Giles squeezed Buffy’s shoulders lightly before letting her go. “Anyanka told me about Spike’s surprise trip back to the mansion.”

“Spike went back?” Oz asked. There was something about the vampire that screamed loyal to him. So, it didn’t make sense that Spike would willingly return to the side of their enemy.

“Not voluntarily. Apparently there’s another vengeance demon out there named Azriel that is using this chaos to do funky things. It’s what happened to Snyder. He made a wish.” Buffy scrunched her nose. “Spike decided to stay at the mansion for now.”

“Why is that?” Giles peered at Buffy with curiosity.

“He’s hoping to find out what Angelus is up to especially now that he’s missing his prize werewolf.” Buffy grinned at Oz. “Are you being careful? I’m sure he’s still convinced he needs you.”

Oz gave the Slayer a simple nod. He’d always been careful while in Sunnydale. How was he to know that visiting his aunt and cousin in a different town would be his downfall? “Minions are stupid.”

Buffy covered her mouth while she giggled. “I thought so too.”

“We need to get our plan to defeat Angelus hammered out, Buffy,” Giles said. He moved over the counter. “I believe we can force the chaos to work for us using a spell that Anyanka found for me. We just need more power.”

“What kind of power do we need?” Buffy’s voice was now serious while she considered Giles’ words.

“Another Slayer would be good. I called the Council already. They’re sending the new Slayer in from the East Coast, but she might have trouble following her.” Giles took off his glasses, and he polished them on his handkerchief. “I was sent a report informing me that every person in the building the Slayer and her Watcher were lodged in were massacred by vampires.”

Buffy gave a horrified gasp. “Were there any clues?”

“In the Watcher’s apartment written on the wall were the words ‘For Kakistos we live! For Kakistos you’ll die!’ written in blood.” Giles grimaced before he replaced his glasses. 

“Any clues what this Kissing Toast is?” Buffy asked.

“Not yet, but it’s late,” Giles answered with a shake of his head. The way Buffy butchered the names of her enemies made him chuckle on the inside, even if he remained stoic in all outward appearances.

Buffy chewed on her lip. “Did you and Anya figure out how to distract that Azzie chick?”

“Not really,” Giles sighed. “However, we were able to cut the length of the chaos storm in half. It should be over within a fortnight.”

“How long is a fortnight again?” Buffy gave Giles a confused look.

“Couple of weeks,” Giles informed the Slayer. “In the meantime, I suggest we all get home. We need to be somewhere safe from Angelus before dark.”

“I need to warn my mom,” Buffy said softly. She chewed on her lower lip. “I’m not ready to talk to her yet though. I know she defended me from Snyder before he did his statue impression, but I’m scared.”

Giles saw how nervous the thought of talking to her mother made Buffy. “I could warn her if you’d like, Buffy,” he suggested. “That way if she has any questions, I could answer them for her.”

Buffy brightened. “Really? You’ll do that for me?” She flung her arms around the older man for a big hug.

“Yes, dear.” Giles patted Buffy on the shoulder. 

That was how Giles found himself in Joyce Summers’ living room watching her ex-husband play housemaid for her. The only thing missing was the French maid’s costume, and Giles assumed the only reason for that was because Mrs. Summers hadn’t had time to purchase one. The Watcher tried valiantly to keep his eyes glued on his hostess while the other man flitted around the room with a feather duster. 

“Why did you stop by, Mr. Giles?” Joyce asked.

Giles cleared his throat. “Buffy wanted you to know to be careful. While we were able avert the apocalypse for the moment, Angelus is still on the loose.”

Joyce leaned forward. “Buffy’s okay, then?”

“Yes, she’s fine, Mrs. Summers.” Giles nodded. “She and Spike have a room at the Regency. Although, Spike has returned to his former residence through no fault of his own.”

Joyce turned to Hank. “You hear that, Hank? You will get a room at the Regency and talk to your daughter.”

“Yes, Joyce.” Hank gave a small nod. He was completely embarrassed to have to flit around the room like an idiot in front of the stranger. He was just glad that Joyce hadn’t had time to buy him a French maid’s uniform. He doubted this dinky little town had a decent sex shop anyway.

Joyce turned back to Giles. “I have a few questions for you about Buffy.”

Giles inclined his head. “I thought you might. I’ll try to answer them the best I know how.”


	12. Friday the 13th

Chapter 12, Friday the 13th 

THE NEXT AFTERNOON

“Buffy’s acting weird. We need you to do a spell for us that will break whatever hold Spike has on her,” Xander said to the witch. After an evening of brainstorming, he and Willow decided that the only logical explanation for Buffy dating yet another vampire was because she was under some kind of spell.

“No, I won’t do it!” Amy Madison told Xander and Willow. She had talked to Buffy just the day before, and there wasn’t a single trace of magic clinging to the Slayer. Besides, there was another reason why she refused to fall for their trick. “Do you know what today is?”

“Uh, Friday?” Willow hazarded a guess.

“Yes, Friday the 13th actually.” Amy shook her head in disbelief. These two hung out with the Slayer, and they didn’t know that any spell cast on a Friday the 13th became more powerful and could backfire easier than usual?

“What could possibly go wrong?” Xander asked in protest. He conveniently forgot about how Amy’s own spell had backfired just a few months before on Valentine’s Day when every female, but the one he wanted, lusted after him. He still had fantasies about taking Buffy up on her offer of sex. He just hadn’t wanted her to beat him up when the spell broke.

“You don’t want to know!” Amy walked away from Harris and Rosenberg. She hoped they wouldn’t follow her. “Idiots.”

“Talking to yourself?” Oz leaned against the lockers. He had noticed Xander and Willow talking to Amy, and it piqued his interest. The day before he saw Buffy and Amy hanging out with each other, but obviously Willow and Xander had not.

“Not hardly,” Amy muttered. “Those two wanted me to do a spell on Buffy to cancel whatever spell her guy named Spike supposedly cast on her.”

Oz rolled his eyes. “Somehow I doubt Buffy’ll be happy to hear this.”

Amy glanced at Oz. She wondered if it was possible to be friends with Buffy now that Willow was on the outs with the blond girl. Sure they had hung out the day before, but whenever Amy had tried to get close to Buffy before that, Willow had warned her off.

“Go with me to break the news to Buffy?” Oz asked. He could smell the magic power on the dark-haired beauty. He knew that they needed another magic user to help Giles with the plan to eliminate Angelus.

Amy nodded. “Yeah, I’d like that.” She linked her arm through Oz’s. Amy threw a triumphant grin over her shoulder at Willow and Xander who glared at her in anger. “I wanted to talk to her again anyway.”

Oz and Amy entered the library where they found Buffy grilling Giles about the Watcher’s interview with her mother. Both the Watcher and the Slayer looked up from their conversation to take in the unhappy faces that Oz and Amy sported.

“What’s up, guys?” Buffy asked.

Amy grimaced before she launched into her explanation of what was bothering her. “Xander and Willow wanted me to do a spell on you, Buffy. I told them no, of course.”

“Why did you tell them no?” Giles asked in curiosity. “You did the love spell for Xander on Valentine’s Day.” He knew the young woman had power within her. She only lacked the control and sense to know when to use magic and when not to.

Amy blushed. “You saw how messed that one was, and it wasn’t even on Friday the thirteenth like today is.”

“What kinda spell do they want you to do?” Buffy asked in a tight, controlled voice, but the others knew she was angry.

A tight look passed over Oz’s usually stoic face. “They think you’re being influenced by magic somehow.”

“While we’re on the subject of magical influences I was wondering if you and Amy would help us with a spell to stop the chaos that was made the night of our rescue from the mansion.” Giles directed the question towards Oz.

“Are you sure, Mr. Giles?” Amy asked. “I just turned down Xander and Willow because of what day it is. I don’t know if it’s wise to perform any spell today.”

“Everything will be under control with our spell,” Giles assured the girl. “For one thing, we won’t be doing it today because we are waiting for a witch from a coven in England to supervise us. She’ll be a brilliant woman by the name of Serina Brennan. For another, there will be six of us doing the spell together.”

“Who exactly is gonna work this magic?” Amy asked.

“You, Oz, me, Spike, Giles, and Anya,” Buffy replied. “As soon as Giles’ friend is here we’ll do the spell. Hopefully that’ll make Xander and Willow go back to normal.”

“You know they’ll try to do that spell themselves even without Amy,” Oz commented. 

Amy nodded. “They were pretty adamant.”

Giles let out a sigh. He went to his office, and he returned with a lockbox. “I have a talisman here that will protect you from magic, Buffy. However, it has no longevity. It’s good for only eight hours per person. This should protect you for the rest of today.” He opened the lockbox, and he pulled out a small leather pouch tied with a leather cord.

“Looks like I’m sporting the newest Sunnydale fashion accessory,” Buffy quipped. She took the pouch from her Watcher, and she slipped it around her neck. “Cordelia will be so jealous.”

“I’ll be jealous of what?” Cordelia swept into the library.

“The latest fad in necklaces.” Buffy pointed to the leather bag around her neck. 

Cordelia glanced at the talisman. She shrugged. “Not my thing, but you are just the gal to pull it off.” She looked at the other two teenagers. “How about the four of us hit the Bronze later? We can show off the newest fashion.”

“Sounds good to me,” Buffy commented. She glanced at Oz and Amy. “How about it?”

“The new Scoobies,” Oz replied. 

“Yeah.” Buffy grinned. “My true blue friends. Who would have thought?”

“Certainly not me,” Cordelia snorted. “Now, Oz, we girls need to go get gussied up. Why don’t you pick us up at my house around seven?”

Oz grunted in agreement. He’d hang out with Giles until then. He wanted to know more about the magic ritual to end the chaos anyway. The girls waved as they left the library.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Are you sure we should try this on our own, Xander?” Willow clutched the spell book to her chest. She looked around at the crypt that Xander and she were currently sitting in. “Are you sure we should be doing this here?” 

“There’s something wrong with Buffy, and you know it,” Xander said. He started to remove spell ingredients from the bag beside him. “Giles doesn’t even seem to notice. He’s all accepting of that bleached dead guy.”

“But still, if Amy was thinks it’s bad to do the spell today, maybe we shouldn’t.” Willow chewed on her lip.

Xander glared at Willow. “Don’t be a baby, Will,” he snarled. “You just do what I tell you, and everything will go back to normal.”

“O-okay,” Willow stammered. She grabbed the spell ingredients, and she laid them out on the floor around Xander and herself. Then, she opened the spell book to an earmarked page. “All you need to do is say ‘So mote it be’ after everything I say.”

“Sounds good to me. Let’s get this show on the road.”

Willow looked down at the book. “Let the healing power begin.”

“So mote it be.”

“Let life return again.”

“So mote it be.”

“As these words of power are gifted.”

“So mote it be.”

“Let the harmful spell be lifted.”

“So mote it be.”

Both Willow and Xander’s eyes flared green before they settled back to their regular colors.

“We’re good so far,” Willow said. “Now we just need to find Buffy to find out if the spell worked.” She looked at Xander who had a horrified look on his face while his eyes stared at something behind her. “What?”

Xander pointed. “Th-th-thirteen.”

“Thirteen what?” Willow turned around to look behind her. She let out a scream when she saw the various skeletons that inhabited the crypt standing behind her. The creatures swayed like they were caught in a breeze. Willow scrambled to her feet, and she rushed towards the door.

“Don’t leave me behind,” Xander yelled. He also leapt to his feet and sprinted out of the crypt.

Together Xander and Willow ran until they collapsed. They lay on the yard of a house for a few minutes catching their breath. Neither one noticed that the house address was 1313 E. Thirteenth Street nor did they realize that the number thirteen would haunt them for a very long time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Spike let out a silent sigh. He hated being trapped in the wheelchair again. He hoped that Buffy and her group of do-gooders came up with a way to defeat Angelus soon. Spike looked up when one of the minions entered the room.

“Master Angelus, I was able to find some tutus,” the minion said. He held a bag to a fancy mall boutique in his hand. “I just didn’t know what color you wanted.”

Angelus narrowed his eyes at the minion. “Well, show me what you have.”

The minion swallowed nervously. If he wasn’t careful, this encounter with Angelus could go very wrong ending up with him being dusted by the older vamp. The minion held out the bag to Angelus. 

Angelus tore open the shopping bag. He grimaced when he saw the rainbow of colors inside. Grabbing a handful of fabric, he thrust the tutus in the minion’s face. “You couldn’t find me a black tutu.”

“No, Master Angelus.” The minion shook his head. “Apparently black and white are out of season. It’s all bright spring colors right now. Before I ate her, the clerk assured me that glittery, purple tutus were the in thing right now.” He closed his eyes and waited for the stake to be thrust into his chest.

Spike burst out laughing. “Can’t wait to see this ritual. Angelus in a tutu. A purple, glittery poofter tutu.” He continued to laugh until he was out of breath.

Even Drusilla smiled at the thought of her daddy in a purple tutu. She thought he’d be so pretty, but she knew better than to say anything out loud.

Angelus growled in anger. He threw the tutus at Spike who snickered even louder. He stormed out of the room, muttering under his breath, “If you want anything done around here, you need to do it yourself.”


	13. I think this chapter is mostly filler

Chapter 13, 

Oz, Amy, Cordelia, and Buffy were having a great time at the Bronze when a disheveled and distraught Willow showed up at the nightclub. A few minutes later Xander trailed in behind Willow. He too looked like something the cat dragged in.

“You’re back to normal now, right?” Xander demanded to know. “No more jumping dead bodies for your kinky habits.”

Buffy glared at Xander. She picked the pouch up off her neck, and she waved it in Xander’s face. “No, Giles gave me this to protect me from whatever you guys did.”

Amy smirked at Willow and Xander. “Spell backfired on you two didn’t it? I sure hope you didn’t do it anywhere near any dead bodies.”

Willow’s eyes widened. “I have no idea what you mean,” she denied.

“Doing spells here in Sunnydale is tricky,” Amy replied. “Why do you think I didn’t want to do that love spell for Xander a few months ago?”

“But you did it anyway, didn’t you?” Willow said.

“Only because your boyfriend there blackmailed me into it,” Amy sneered.

Xander glared at Amy. “She’s not my girlfriend, and you mojoed poor Mrs. Beakman.”

“My mother made Mrs. Beakman hate me. I just wanted her to be nice to me for a change.” Amy turned to Buffy, Oz, and Cordelia. “Everybody thinks I’m a psycho because of my mother.”

Xander stepped forward, and he pulled the sachet from Buffy’s neck. “Grab her, Willow. We’ll find someplace else to do the spell.”

“I keep telling you there’s nothing wrong with me.” Buffy glowered at Xander. She turned angry eyes on Willow. “If you touch me, something bad is going to happen.”

“Ohhhh? ‘Cuz your boyfriend will come after us?” Xander sneered.

Buffy jumped to her feet, and she got in Xander’s face. “No, because I can, and will, take care of myself. I don’t need Spike to take you out for me.”

“You did a piss poor job of that last year in the library,” Xander scoffed. His anger made his brain disconnect from his mouth, letting things best left alone out into the open.

Buffy narrowed her eyes until she realized that Xander was talking about the hyena incident that he told her had didn’t remember. Her eyes widened, and she slapped him across the face hard enough to knock him to the floor. “You lied to me, Xander,” she growled. “And I didn’t want to hurt you then. I have no problems with that now.”

Xander held his bruised jaw. “Giles let me. Are you gonna punch him too?”

“I just might. Now get out of my sight before I get really pissed off.” Buffy pointed towards the door of the Bronze.

Willow realized that Buffy was completely serious, and maybe Xander and she had made a mistake thinking Buffy was under a spell of some kind. She threw Oz a sad look before she dragged Xander to his feet. “Can I talk to you tomorrow, Oz?”

“Well, at least it won’t be the thirteenth anymore,” Cordelia muttered.

Willow and Xander got wild looks on their faces. Their eyes darted around the dance club before they dashed away.

“That was weird. Very weird,” Cordelia said.

“I think it was something you said.” Oz watched Xander and Willow’s retreat from the Bronze. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the other two teenagers at that moment. Clearly Willow wasn’t the person he thought she was.

Amy tilted her head in thought. “I have a feeling it has something to do with the thirteenth. I told them it was a bad day to be doing magic.”

Like Oz, Buffy watched Xander and Willow’s retreat from the Bronze. Her heart weighed heavy in her breast. “I don’t feel much like dancing or anything now, guys,” she finally said. “How about we call it a night?”

“Sure, we can do that,” Cordelia replied. She put her arm around Buffy’s shoulders to give the Slayer a hug of sympathy. It wasn’t something she would normally do, but she felt the desire to reassure Buffy that everything would be okay. “Xander just sucked all the fun out of the night anyway.” 

Buffy smiled at her new good friends. “Drop me off at my hotel?”

“No problemo.” Cordelia nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Willow straggled behind Xander. Doing a spell to break whatever enchantment was on Buffy sounded good at the time, but now she wasn’t so sure. Neither Buffy nor Oz wanted anything to do with her, and they were hanging out with Amy and Cordelia. Things were messed up big time.

“Who the hell does she think she is?” Xander grumbled. “I was under a freakin’ spell when I attacked her.”

Willow stopped up short. “You mean you really did try to rape Buffy?”

“Try is the optimal word in that statement.” Xander turned to look at his oldest friend in the world. When he saw Willow’s shocked look, he muttered, “Just because I don’t use our vocabulary words from sixth grade doesn’t mean I don’t remember them, Willow.”

“Is this what this all about?” Willow felt confused. “You want to jump Buffy’s bones, but she’s not interested in you?” 

“I’ve stood by her side for over a year and a half, Willow. I think I deserve something for my loyalty.”

“You have her friendship. She loves you like the brother she doesn’t have. You shouldn’t have to be paid anything for that.”

Xander stepped towards his friend, and he leaned into her face. “I don’t want to be her brother. I want to be her lover. I’m sick of her running after the undead. She needs a real man.”

Willow stepped back. Any hopes she’d had to get together with Xander were dashed. “I don’t think I like this side of you, Xander. Is Buffy really affected by some spell, or are you just fooling around with forces you have no business playing with?”

“Are you with me, or against me, Willow?” Xander went to grab Willow’s arm, but the young woman stepped back again.

“I’m not with you.” Willow shook her head. “There’s something wrong with you. You’re not my Xander-shaped friend.”

Xander gritted his teeth, and he tilted his head to the side in anger. “Fine, Willow. Be that way. I don’t need you anyway.” He stormed off towards his house.

Willow watched Xander stomp away. She knew she had fences to mend. She just hoped she hadn’t burned her bridges completely. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Buffy did a quick patrol around the hotel to make sure none of Angelus’ minions were anywhere near the building. She wasn’t sure about how invites worked at a hotel since the room wasn’t really her house or anything. As she passed by the small restaurant attached to the hotel, she noticed a very familiar face. Buffy pushed the diner door open. “Daddy?”

Hank Summers looked up with a faint smile. “Hi, pumpkin.”

“What are you doing here, Daddy?” Buffy slid into the bench seat across from her father.

“Your mother called me after your fight.” Hank cradled his coffee cup in his hands. “She’s not at all happy with the way things are between the two of you.”

Buffy shook her head. “I had to do what I did, Dad. She told me not to come back.”

“She wants you back, Buffy. Don’t you ever believe that we don’t love you.” Hank tried to reassure his daughter. He felt bad for neglecting her for so long. “She told me about the vampires. I’m so sorry that we sent you to that place.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Buffy shrugged.

“But it does, honey.” Hank abandoned his coffee cup to grasp Buffy’s hand. “I’m sorry. I’m going to try and be a better father to you. I’m even thinking about moving here to Sunnydale to be closer to you.”

Buffy tried not to get her hopes up. “Really, Daddy?”

“Really. Now, will you consider going back home before your mother gets terribly grumpy?”

“I’ll think about it.” Buffy patted her father’s hand. “In the mean time, there are rules to living in Sunnydale.” Then, the Slayer spent the next few minutes educating her father on staying alive on a Hellmouth.


	14. Violins

Chapter 14, Violins 

It took all day for Willow to find Oz alone so she could apologize for her behavior and siding with Xander. The young man had an uncanny ability to know exactly when she was searching for him. Finally, she found him alone in the library waiting for Buffy and Giles.

“I’m sorry, Oz,” Willow sobbed. She clutched at the young man’s arm. “I was just trying to help Buffy with whatever spell was cast on her. I really thought there was something going on. Forgive me.”

Spike entered the back of the library on his way to meet up with Buffy and her friends. He was just in time to hear Willow’s statement to Oz. He stepped out from behind the bookcase, and he scoffed, “You just keep tellin’ yourself that, Red. Magic has consequences.”

Willow let out an alarmed squeak, and she hid behind Oz. Despite the fact that Spike had never threatened her personally, she was scared of him.

“Yo, man.” Oz gave Spike a welcoming nod.

“Evenin’, Wiz.” Spike returned the greeting. “What’s this about a spell on the Slayer?”

“Nothing to worry about,” Oz reassured Spike. “It backfired anyway. Will and Xander now have triskaidekaphobia.”

Spike threw back his head with laughter. “Guess there won’t be any Jason marathons.”

“J-jason?” Willow stammered. She had no idea what the vampire was saying. “What’s that?”

Spike leaned in close to the redhead. “Friday the 13th movies.”

Willow let out a small terrified scream. She hid her face in Oz’s back, and she could feel her ex-boyfriend step away from her. “Don’t do that. You’re scaring me.”

Spike rubbed his thumb and forefinger together. “You see this, Red?”

Willow’s eyes widened when Oz stepped even further away from her, and she had to look at Spike.

“This is me, playing the world’s smallest violins.” Spike gave the girl a pointed glare. “You are lucky the spell backfired. If Buffy had been hurt, your consequences would be a lot worse the fear of a number.”

“What’s going on here?” Giles stepped out of his office.

“Willow’s demonstrating her newest fear,” Spike replied with a smirk.

Giles raised an eyebrow. “You mean she has a fear besides frogs?”

“Oh yeah, now it’s thirteen frogs,” Spike chortled. He took great delight in the red head’s fright and unease.

Willow let out another squeaky moan. She shuddered in horror at the psychological torment employed by the vampire.

Oz finally took pity on Willow. He waved the other two men away. “You need to leave the library before Buffy gets here, Will. She’s not happy with you.” He guided Willow to the library doors, and he sent her on her way.

“How are things going at the mansion?” Giles asked Spike.

“A bit tense,” Spike chortled. “The minions brought back sparkly, purple tutus for Angelus. I can’t believe he’s still falling for that bullshite.” 

“There is a possibility it will all fade away when we do the ritual to banish the chaos,” Giles said in a thoughtful voice. “We need you, Spike. Will you be able to get away?”

Spike shrugged. “Shouldn’t be a problem. Even if I have to reveal my mobility to Angelus.”

“Good. I pick Serina up at the airport tomorrow afternoon directly after school is out. We’ll do the ritual around 10 p.m.”

Spike glanced at Oz before he answered, “Sounds good to me. I’ll be there with bells on.”

“Good Lord, I hope you don’t mean that literally,” the Watcher said.

Spike let out a snort that was interrupted by the arrival of Buffy, Cordelia, and Amy. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the prettiest gals in all of Sunnyhell. Don’t you agree, dog boy?”

Oz glanced at Amy, who blushed a deep red. Cordelia just rolled her eyes at Spike’s flattery while Buffy moved to his side, and she put her arm around his waist. “So, what’s up? Are we all set for the ritual?”

“Tomorrow evenin’ apparently.” Spike smiled down at Buffy. “Just as soon as I escape Angelus’ evil clutches that is.”

Buffy giggled behind one hand. “That’s cool. The sooner this chaos stuff is over the better. Kinda reminds me of Halloween and Ethan though.” She shook her head.

“Ah ha!” Giles raise his hand with his forefinger standing at attention. “That’s exactly how we’ll distract Azriel. Ethan is into chaos.”

Buffy bit her lip. “Is that really safe though? Your old buddy is kind of a wild card.”

“We’ll have Anyanka and Serina put restrictions on him,” Giles said.

“Did someone say my name?” Anyanka appeared beside Giles. She smiled up into Giles’ face, mirroring Buffy’s earlier actions with Spike.

“That we did, my dear.” Giles leaned down to kiss Anyanka’s cheek. “An old friend of mine loves Chaos. We were hoping we could distract your comrade in arms with him. Any suggestions?”

“Make a wish,” Anyanka said.

“Really, that easy?” Giles raised an eyebrow. A feral grin crossed the Watcher’s face. “I wish that my dear old friend Ethan Rayne would go to Azriel.”

“Wish granted.” Anyanka returned Giles’ grin with a wicked one of her own.

“Well, with that delightful bit of wishin’, I need to get back to the mansion so I can stop being at the mansion,” Spike said. He turned to Buffy. “Meet you for patrol later, luv?”

Buffy nodded. “Yeah, sounds good.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Where the hell am I?” Ethan grunted when he was magically pulled from the prostitute’s bed. He found himself standing buck naked in front of an ugly demon with blond hair and an amazingly hot body. “Who the hell are you?”

“I am Azriel, patron saint of chaos,” the demon intoned. “Tremble before my wrath.”

A smirk crossed Ethan’s face. “Chaos is right up my alley, but Sunnydale isn’t the place for it.”

“It looks pretty good to me. The things I’ve caused here will have repercussions for a long, long time.”

“That is true, but knowing my old buddy Ripper everything will turn out for the best,” Ethan said with a fair amount of certainty.

“So what do you suggest?” Azriel looked the human over. Maybe this wouldn’t be a total loss after all.

A slimy smirk settled over Ethan’s features. “I’m so glad you asked.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Joyce opened the front door, and she gave Hank a cool look. “Did you get it?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Hank nodded. He held up the bag from Shadow’s Den of Pleasure.

Joyce stepped back to let her ex-husband. “You can change in the bathroom.”

Hank ducked his head in embarrassment. “Yes, ma’am,” he muttered while he brushed past Joyce. He silently cursed his traitorous cock for hardening at the thought of dressing up in a French maid’s costume for his ex-wife’s amusement and pleasure. Hank hoped that no one, especially Buffy, would see him.

“Good, when you’ve changed, we need to go grocery shopping.” Joyce went to the dining room to collect her coat and jacket.

Hank let out a quiet groan of disappointed anticipation. She was bound and determined to humiliate him beyond reasoning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Faith climbed out of the car. She stretched her arms in the air while she looked up at the downtrodden hotel. “Home, sweet home,” she muttered, unknowingly echoing the words uttered by another recent newcomer to Sunnydale.

“Get us a room while I try to figure out where Mr. Giles is,” Diana said while she got out of the driver’s side of the car. She tossed the keys across the top of the car to Faith. “Get our bags inside too.”

“Sure, but you’re going to owe me, baby,” Faith cooed with a smirk. She sauntered towards the office of the hotel.


	15. There's only room for one of us here

Chapter 15, There’s only room for one of us here. 

After Spike and the newly reformed Scoobies left the library, Buffy turned to Giles. “So, I learned something I didn’t like last night,” she informed the Watcher with a glare.

Giles suddenly felt a bit afraid. An unhappy Buffy could be a volatile Buffy. “Oh? What was that?”

“Xander informed me that you knew he tried to rape me while under the hyena influence.” Buffy narrowed her eyes. “You even encouraged him to lie and say he didn’t remember.”

“I… oh…” Giles fumbled for his glasses, and he hastily started to polish them with a handkerchief from his pocket. “I had no idea. I just thought he wanted to forget doing something stupid. I didn’t realize what he actually tried to do. I apologize, Buffy. Had I known, I would have never allowed him to stay around.”

“Well, he did, Giles.” Buffy bit back a sigh. “And now with all the jealousy stuff going on, it’ll take a lot to forgive him. Willow too.”

“I’m sorry, Buffy. I thought I was doing something to help you keep your friendship.” Giles shoved his glasses back on his face. “It’s hard. In theory, having a Slayer is easy, but in reality I think the Council has forgotten that you are all real people with real feelings and problems.”

“Yeah, especially if they don’t find us as babies like they did Kendra,” Buffy said. She remembered her sister Slayer’s penchant for following the rule book. “Of course, poor Giles, having a Slayer that’s not only dated one vampire, but two.”

Giles put a hand over his heart. “Yes, I don’t know how I will possibly survive.”

“Buck up, Giles,” Buffy laughed. “At least, you’ll be in the history books.” She patted him on the shoulder before she slipped from the library, secure in the knowledge that he hadn’t hidden Xander’s rape attempt from her on purpose.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

After sneaking back into the mansion, Spike made an appearance where he ordered around the minions. He knew from experience that Angelus hated when he made the minions do things for him. Spike noticed that Drusilla was out, but he wasn’t too worried. He’d be out of the mansion before she could cause too much trouble.

Ten minutes later Angelus stormed into Spike’s room. He found the younger vampire stretched out on the bed reading a book. “Where is Drusilla?” Angelus demanded. “It’s almost dawn, and she’s not back yet.”

Spike looked up from his reading. “How the hell should I know, Angelus. It’s not like I’m her keeper. Besides, dawn is hours away, you pillock.”

Angelus paced back and forth. “Why is she doing this to me? Out at all hours, never telling me where she’s going. I need help recapturing the werewolf and the others, and she’s off gallivanting around town on her own.” He wasn’t even concerned that Spike had been ordering the minions around. He had bigger fish to fry anyway.

“They’ve already thwarted you over and over. Give it up, Gramps.” Spike returned to his reading, although his attention was still centered on the older vampire.

“You’re just jealous,” Angelus scoffed. “You’re still stuck in that wheelchair, aren’t you, roller boy?”

“Won’t be forever, Gramps. M’face is all better.”

Angelus stopped his pacing to study Spike’s with close scrutiny. He realized Spike looked remarkably healthy considering Drusilla forgot to feed the crippled vampire. Angelus didn’t like what he saw. If Spike got back to full health, he could be a glitch in Angelus’ plans to bring about hell on earth. Angelus found out early on that Spike had no huge ambitions when he was turned. The boy just wanted to fight and fuck. Angelus shook his head in disgust. _It’s time to get rid of the flotsam,_ he thought.

Spike looked up with a smirk. “I guess you can’t keep Dru any more satisfied than you could the Slayer,” he taunted.

Angelus growled. “What are you talking about?”

“Just heard a rumor,” Spike shrugged. “Been keeping my ear to the ground, so to speak.”

“You lie!” Angelus stepped closer to the bed. “You’re trapped in that chair. You haven’t heard anything of the sort.”

“Have you ever known me to lie, Angelus? Brag, most definitely, but to tell a fib?” Spike smirked. “Now that would be a sin.”

“There’s only room for one of us here.” Angelus launched himself at Spike. He thought he had the advantage, but the younger vamp nimbly rolled off the bed onto his feet. Angelus turned over to stare at Spike in astonishment.

Spike kicked Angelus hard enough in the head to make the other vampire dizzy. “Yeah, there is only room for one of us here.” Then, he kicked the moaning Angelus in the crotch. Spike grabbed his duster to put on. “I’m out of here, Peaches.”

“You can walk.” Angelus worked hard to make his eyes focus.

Spike smirked at Angelus. His hands fell to frame the bulge in his jeans. “Can do lots of things, includin’ keepin’ a certain blond Slayer happy.”

“No, she would never do that,” Angelus snarled. “She loves me.”

Spike chuckled while he went to the bedroom door. “Never said she loved me, mate, but I do happen to be Buffy’s new boyfriend.”

Angelus let out an anguished bellow. He would have leapt to his feet in pursuit of Spike, but the dual pains in his head and his balls made any movements at that moment near impossible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Master, we’ve lost the Slayer’s trail,” the quivering minion mumbled to Kakistos.

Kakistos growled. “I ask for one measly little thing – the blood of the Slayer – and the only results I get is nothing. I want the Slayer! I want to bathe in her blood.”

A black-skinned vampire in full game face broke away from the shadows. “What you need is a vampire with smarts to help you with hunt.”

“Who the hell are you?” Kakistos snarled.

“Well, let me introduce myself. I go by Trick.” There was no way Trick was going to tell anyone that his real name was Timmy Trickel. As if he could possibly be a bad ass vamp with a name like Timmy. It wasn’t even Timothy which was at least halfway cool. No, it was Timmy. 

“Well, show me how you can help me get the Slayer?”

“Easy.” Trick held up his palm sized computer. “Give me the bitch’s name, and I can find her just like that.” He snapped the fingers of his free hand.

“The bitch’s name is Faith Lehane.”

Trick typed away on his little computer. “Hmmm, it appears that an apartment in the building you had your minions attack was registered to the Council of Watchers, and specifically to a Watcher named Diana Dormers. Now, the lovely Diana was in a hotel in Las Vegas just last night.”

Kakistos growled. “She could be anywhere by now.”

Trick shrugged. “I highly doubt that. Vegas is only a few hours’ drive from Sunnydale, California, home of the Hellmouth.”

“I guess we’re going to the Hellmouth,” Kakistos hissed. “I want to bathe in the Slayers blood.”

“Talk about a one-track mind,” Trick grumbled. He tucked his computer into his pocket, turned to the minions, and he clapped his hand. “You heard the Master. Chop, chop. Let’s go to Sunnydale.”

The minions bowed to Kakistos. “For Kakistos we live! For Kakistos you’ll die.”

“Just fucking peachy,” Trick muttered under his breath while he followed the minions towards the limos. “Nothing like fanatics to make a road trip insane.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Diana rolled her eyes at her young charge. She knew now that they were in Sunnydale she was going to have to put her foot down. There was no way she could let another Watcher know how badly she had fallen down on the job with her Slayer.

Diana quickly found a telephone booth. Luckily for her, the phone book was practically brand new, and she easily found Giles’ phone number and address. Then, she found the address for the high school where she knew he worked as the librarian.

“Slayer, I don’t think it came this way!”

Diana swung around to find herself confronted by a pale skinned, bleached blond man in a long black leather duster. 

“Have you seen a demon about yay-high?” the man asked with his hand about level with his waist. “Green-skinned with bright red eyes?”

Diana mutely shook her head.

“Bloody Hell,” the man grumbled. “How did the little soddin’ monster get past me?”

“Spike!” A young woman’s voice called out very loudly. “Found it!”

Spike tipped his head at Diana with a lively salute. “My girl calls for me.” He whirled around in a flash of black leather.

Diana took a deep breath. “Wow,” she mumbled. “Things here could be interesting. I’m fairly certain that was a vampire hanging out with the Slayer.”


	16. Grocery shopping

Chapter 16 grocery shopping 

“Out of the car, Hank,” Joyce said in her most commanding voice. “You were the one to bring this on yourself by treating me like I was less than dirt.”

Hank hung his head. “Yes, ma’am.” He climbed out of his side of the car, went around, and opened the driver’s door for his ex-wife. After Joyce got out, he closed the door. She swept towards the store like a queen, and he shuffled along behind her.

“Push the cart, Hank,” Joyce announced in a loud voice. She was going to enjoy this humiliation of her ex-husband. In the back of her mind, she remembered the time she had run into the slutty little secretary that he had been boinking back while they were married.

_The blond woman on the next row over from Joyce sniggered to her friend. “And then Hanky told me that my eyes were the perfect shade of blue. Oh, Starla, it’s the most beautiful thing any man has ever said to me.”_

_Joyce knew that she recognized the voice. She’d only met her husband’s secretary, Jennifer, once, but the woman’s child-like voice had made quite an impression on her. She had wondered if Hank was cheating on her, and now she was sure of it. Sucking up her resolve, Joyce pushed her cart around the corner and down the aisle where Jennifer and her friend were standing._

_Joyce’s eyes narrowed when she realized she knew the friend, Starla, too. Jennifer wasn’t the first secretary that her husband had boinked. She drew her cart up behind the two attractive women, – boy, didn’t they make her feel like an old hag in her sensible shoes and wool jacket – and she said quietly, “Once a cheater, always a cheater.”_

_Jennifer and Starla whirled around to glare at the interloper, only to realize exactly who was behind them. Jennifer let out a snort of disdain. “He’d never cheat on me. I’m not some middle aged housewife with saggy boobs and a flat butt.”_

_Joyce hid her pain at the young woman’s words. She let an uncustomary smirk cross her face. “Oh really? Why don’t you ask Starla here where she was last Thursday night?” Then, Joyce marched off. Behind her she could hear the ensuing argument between the two bimbos. “Never mess with a Summers woman,” she muttered. “Even one by marriage.”_

Joyce and Hank entered the supermarket to a very mixed reaction. Several of the customers looked horrified, but some of them were outright laughing at Hank’s outfit.

“First we need to pick up some fresh fruits and vegetables,” Joyce announced. She pointed towards the produce section. Walking proudly through the store, Joyce ignored everyone’s reaction to her ex-husband.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“What’s your name, again?” Azriel asked. She snapped her fingers, and she was fully clothed. “And how did you know you’re in Sunnydale.”

“Ethan Rayne, at your service, and I’d recognize the stench of the Hellmouth anywhere.” The chaos mage eyed the now fully dressed demoness. “Let’s go out and play, my dear.”

“Like that?”

Ethan looked down at his pale, naked body. “What’s wrong with the way I look?”

“You’re naked,” Azriel gasped. It was so rare to find a human that didn’t have some sort of hang up about their body. 

“Well, of course I am. I was a bit busy when I was summoned here.”

“You’re not blaming that one on me are you?” Azriel shook her head. “I didn’t have anything to do with it.”

“Of course not.” Ethan smirked. He waved a hand at his body. “Now, if you don’t mind giving me some clothes.”

“Oh, all right.” Azriel rolled her eyes before she dressed the human man in a fine silk suit and leather shoes. “Let’s go now.”

Ethan grabbed Azriel’s arm with a grin. “I have the perfect place to start.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“It’s a grocery store,” Azriel said in disgust.

Ethan rolled his eyes. “I know it’s a grocery store, my dear. I’m in need of sustenance.”

“Well, we could have just gone to a restaurant. I know this sweet little spot on the Outer Rim that serves up the yummiest beef steak anywhere.” Azriel licked her lips while her eyes glazed over. “It’s positively addictive.”

“As soon as I find what I’m looking for.” Ethan sauntered down the aisle towards the refrigerated beverages. “This is the only store outside the one in Chino that carries the brand of ale I like.”

Azriel followed slowly behind. She couldn’t think of a time when she’d ever been inside a grocery store. Chaos was best dealt out on the battlefield or during a national disaster. Her attention was grabbed by the sight of an older woman in sensible clothes being followed by a man pushing a cart and wearing a maid’s costume.

“Come along, Hank,” the woman said. “I want to get to bed before midnight. I have a shipment due at the gallery in the morning.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Hank hurried after his ex-wife. Much to his embarrassment, a beautiful blond woman was studying him.

“What’s wrong, my dear?” Ethan returned with a cardboard box tucked under his arm.

Azriel shook her head. “This town is weirder than I thought.”

“Well, you did do an excellent chaos spell,” Ethan replied. “Not that most people have noticed mind you. There’s a certain element in the air that makes them ignore the oddities that surround them.”

“Really? Well, pooh. That’s stinks,” Azriel muttered.

Ethan gave the demoness a smarmy smile. “That’s why, after we go to your Outer Rim restaurant, we’re going to find someplace that will really benefit from our combined chaos.”

“You promise?”

“Of course, my dear.” Ethan extended an elbow for Azriel to take. “Time to go then?”

An evil grin crossed Azriel’s face. “Time to go then.” She took Ethan’s arm, and the two chaos lovers disappeared with a pop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Who are you looking for, pet?” Spike asked when he saw Buffy glancing around the hotel restaurant. He slung his arm across the back of the bench seat behind the Slayer.

“Oh, my dad has checked in here at the hotel, but I don’t see him.” Buffy smiled at Spike. She leaned back to rest her head on Spike’s arm. “He’s probably with mom. He said he’s going to be a better father and maybe even move to Sunnydale.” 

Spike made a noncommittal sound in his chest. “Do I need to give him a rundown of what’ll happen if he hurts m’girl again?”

Buffy laughed. “No, for some reason I think Mom has him well in hand.”

“Well, the woman is right handy with an axe.”

“Are you ready to order?” the waitress asked when she passed by the table.

“Oh yeah, I’d love some waffles with strawberries and whipped cream,” Buffy answered. 

“Coming right up.” The waitress whipped out her notepad. “How about you, sir?”

“You serve up those buffalo wings here?” Spike asked. He didn’t need anything besides blood, but sometimes he missed the textures of eating food. “That’ll be everything.”

“Yes, sir.” The waitress hurried off with the order.

“You know, you can play nice with people when you want to.” Buffy laughed. “Angel would just sit here and brood. It was kinda uncomfortable.”

“Well, I’m a versatile guy, Slayer,” Spike replied. He dropped his hand to Buffy’s shoulder. “Besides, I’m not ruled by my demon.”

Buffy leaned against Spike. “Have I told you how much I like having you as my new boyfriend?”

“Yes, but I’d love to hear it again.”

Buffy hummed in her chest. Then, she cupped Spike’s cheek before she leaned up and gave him a kiss on the corner of his mouth. “Well, I do. I need to ask you a question though.”

“What?”

“What are you doing for blood?”


	17. You should give me three good reasons to stay

Chapter 17, You should give me three good reasons to stay

Serina Brennan looked around the small Sunnydale airport. She’d only seen Rupert Giles once before, and she wasn’t sure she’d be able to pick him out of a crowd. Serina suppressed a startled gasp when a young woman appeared out of nowhere beside her.

“You’re the witch that Rupert is waiting for,” the woman said. “I’m Anyanka, patron saint of scorned women.”

“Uh, hello,” Serina replied. “If Rupert is Rupert Giles, then yes, I am the witch. I’m Serina Brennan.” 

“Just so you know, Rupert’s my man. You’ll have to find your own.” 

Serina wasn’t sure what to say to that little tidbit. “Honestly, I have no interest in Rupert. We’re only friends.”

“It better stay that way.” Anyanka turned and waved at Giles. “Over here, Rupert.”

“Serina,” Giles said when he arrived by Anyanka’s side. “It seems the years have been treating you well.”

Serina blushed. “Thank you, Rupert. Now down to business. You were vague when you rang me up. What’s going on?”

“We’ll explain on the way,” Giles replied. He glanced at Serina’s overnight bag. “Do you have more luggage?”

“No.” Serina shook her head. “I figured if I needed anything I could just purchase it here.”

With a nod, Giles turned to Anyanka. “Could you tell the others to meet up with us at Kingman’s Bluff?”

“Of course,” Anyanka chirped. She gave Serina a narrow-eyed look. “Remember what I said.”

Serina stepped back in astonishment when Anyanka disappeared right before her eyes. “She’s quite powerful, isn’t she? Possessive too.”

“She’s a vengeance demon,” Giles explained. “So, yes, powerful, and vampires aren’t the only possessive creatures in the demonic world.” He took Serina’s bag, and he deftly led her towards the door. “Now to explain about the various persons you’ll be working with.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“What are you doing, Dru?” Angelus watched his insane Childe pack her belongings. He had no idea why she’d be packing.

“I’m leaving.” Drusilla picked up Miss Edith. “You’ve gone crazy. You want to bring Hell to me, and I don’t like it. All the pretty maids will wither away. My tummy will grow rumbly.”

Angelus shook his head. “You’ve got to be kidding me! Drusilla, stop this damned nonsense at once.”

“It’s only nonsense to you because it’s not your idea.” Drusilla picked up her suitcase in her other hand.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Angelus gripped the bridge of his nose. He was a vampire. He shouldn’t be getting a headache. “Just put your stuff away, Dru. Stop being an idiot.”

“You should give me three good reasons to stay.” Drusilla turned to look at her Sire.

Angelus gave a feral grin. “Okay, here goes. One, we’re going to kill the Slayer. Two, we’re going to get Spikey back.” Although he wasn’t going to tell Drusilla exactly how he planned on getting Spike back. “Three, we’re gonna rule the world.”

Drusilla shook her head. “None of those reasons are because you love me.” She turned to leave. “Not like he loves her. He understands her with perfect clarity. He loves what she is, what she does, and how she tries. He will someday see the best and the worst of her. He thinks she’s a hell of a woman. She’s the one.” She marched out of the room without a backward look. Brazil was beautiful this time of year, she reasoned. It was time to spend some time to find herself.

Angelus scratched his head in astonishment. He hadn’t a clue what just happened. Drusilla was supposed to be too emotionally dependent on him to ever leave him, and yet, she was walking out the door with ease. Besides, since when did Drusilla give a damn about love? “What _he_ is she talking about?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“What are you doing for blood?”

Spike very carefully chose his next words. “I won’t drink that swill the ensouled ponce did, Slayer. I’ve been playing catch and release.”

“You can do that?”

Spike scoffed. “Of course. I’m not some stupid fledge you know, Slayer.”

Buffy had no idea what to say at that point. While she was glad Spike wasn’t killing anyone, she wasn’t sure she liked the idea of him taking bites out of the populace. Before she could comment, Anyanka appeared in the bench seat across from Spike and Buffy.

“Meet Rupert and that witch at Kingman’s Bluff to do the spell,” Anyanka said without ceremony.

Buffy looked towards the kitchen. “Can we get our food first? I’m starved.”

Anyanka let out an exaggerated sigh. “I suppose. Don’t be late.” She disappeared with a snap of her fingers. She didn’t want to leave Serina alone with Rupert for too long.

Buffy stared at the empty spot where Anyanka had just been sitting. “So, catch and release. I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

Spike sneaked a peek at Buffy from beneath his lashes. “I have to have blood, Slayer. There’s no getting’ around it. I’m still a vampire, no matter how much I’m enjoyin’ our time together.”

“I know that, but…” Buffy bit her lip. “I think I’m jealous.”

Spike blinked in surprise. “Jealous?”

Buffy grabbed a paper napkin which she started to shred into little pieces. “Well, yeah. I can’t see you catchin’ guys like you can girls. Not that there aren’t gay guys in Sunnydale, because I’m sure there are. You know … I think that you’re catching girls, and I don’t like that. You’re my boyfriend.”

“So, it’s not just a game we’re playin’ to brass off your little friends and Angelus?”

“What?” Buffy’s head jerked up to stare at Spike. “No! No, I’m not playing to brass anyone off.”

“Well, then, what do you suggest, Slayer?” Spike licked his lips. “Are you offerin’ your services?”

“I… Can I think about it?” Buffy said hesitantly.

Spike nodded his acceptance just as the waitress walked up with two take out boxes, plastic silverware, and napkins inside a plastic bag.

“I saw your friend pop in and out.” The waitress leaned down. “I figured it was something pressing if the Slayer’s involved. I’m Emmaline Hassib, by the way. My husband owns Donut Heaven.”

“Wow, thanks,” Buffy said. Then, a curious look crossed her face. “How did you know I was the Slayer?”

Emmaline flushed bright red. “Not all demons are evil and trying to open the Hellmouth,” she said in a quiet voice. “Some of us just want to live a normal life. Besides, my husband and I have noticed the weirdness that’s been happening the last week or so.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Buffy muttered. “Things have been weird lately. We’re on our way to fix things right now.”

Emmaline brightened. “Oh, I won’t keep you then. Good luck to both of you.” She handed Buffy the ticket to pay for the meal. “Don’t worry about paying. I’ve already settled with the cashier. It’s my good deed for the day.”

“Thanks.” Buffy took the plastic bag. She grabbed Spike’s hand. “We better get going before Giles gets all grumpy.”

“Sure thing, Slayer.” Spike tipped his head to Emmaline. He’d realized she was a demon of some sort when she first approached the table, but she hadn’t been threatening.

Buffy gave Emmaline a wave as Spike and she left the hotel restaurant. She made a silent promise that she’d come talk to the other girl very soon. She wanted to know more about these peaceful demons that Emmaline had mentioned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Sorry we’re late, Giles,” Buffy called out when Spike and she finally arrived at Kingman’s Bluff. They held hands with their fingers linked together. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I started eating. We had to stop for more food.”

Serina suppressed a gasp when she glanced at the two blond newcomers. The clasped hands between Buffy and Spike glowed with a bright, orange supernatural flame. She glanced around at the others, but she soon realized that they couldn’t see what she could. Serina wondered if the glow could possibly mean some future event now changed. Was there some future event that had linked the Slayer and the vampire together forever? 

Amy looked up from where she was talking to Serina. “We just got here too, Buffy. Oz had some weird vibes on the way over. We ended up taking a detour by the mansion.”

Buffy looked worried, but she gave Amy a gesture to continue.

“Oz said that he could feel werewolves at the mansion. We really, really need to get this chaos crap taken care of,” Amy continued.

Spike nodded an agreement. “We need to take Angelus down.”

“The arse is more trouble than he’s worth,” Giles agreed. He watched Buffy’s face for any conflict of emotion, but the Slayer’s face only held resolve and sadness. “We must eliminate the danger, Buffy. No one is safe with Angelus running loose.”

“He was pretty mad,” Oz commented. “It seems Drusilla left him.”

Spike’s eyebrows rose when he heard that news. He felt Buffy tense beside him, and he knew she thought he might leave her to go after Drusilla. He tightened his fingers around Buffy’s hand. “Well, I suppose we should get this show on the road then.”

“Everyone gather around.” Serina gestured towards the circle that Amy and she had drawn in the dirt. “Hold hands, and, please, alternate male/female. I will stand in the middle.” When everyone was in place, Serina started the spell, pulling power from each supernatural being surrounding her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Xander shuddered when the wave of magic flowed through him. With great shame, he realized that he had alienated himself from all of his friends because of his actions. He had no idea if they’d ever forgive him though. Maybe they would forgive him eventually if he threw himself on their mercy. Until then, he’d just lay low.

Willow clutched the stuffed animal to her stomach while she let the tears flow. Now, more than before, she realized exactly how she’d lost Oz’s affections. She just hoped he’d forgive her eventually. Buffy too, for that matter. Willow felt so stupid now because of the spell she’d let Xander talk her into performing.


	18. A barking dog

Chapter 18 A barking dog 

The minion stared out the window at the gathering storm. It was sure to be a doozy even by California standards. He could see the lightning strikes explode inside the rolling clouds. They looked dark and ominous. The minion wasn’t too confident that Master Angelus ceremony was going to work, but he wasn’t going to be the one to speak up. It was time to get ready anyway. The minion turned away from the window, and he went to where Angelus was waiting for him. 

“Master Angelus, we’re ready to do the ceremony,” the minion said through the door to Angelus. “The mated werewolves are in place as you requested.” He jumped back when the door suddenly opened, and Angelus stepped into the hallway.

“Good. Follow me,” Angelus snarled.

It took everything the minion had to suppress the wild laugh that threatened to burst forth when he saw Angelus in the purple sparkly tutu. The master vampire had gone all out for the occasion. His skin tight leotard matched the tutu as did the oversized ballet shoes.

“You have the words translated for me to speak, correct?”

“Yes, Master Angelus,” the minion said. He was lucky his terror of Angelus outweighed the comedy factor of seeing the dark-haired vampire in the costume.

Angelus marched into the main living room of the Crawford Street mansion. He was pleased to see the four people he assumed were werewolves tied to chairs in the middle of the room. All four of them glared at him, but he didn’t give a damn. “Are they all mated up like I wanted?”

“Yes, Master Angelus,” the minion replied with a nod of his head. “They weren’t when we captured them, but they are now.”

“Good. Good.” Angelus grabbed up the book, and he started to read from the pages in a dramatic, over the top fashion. “The time is at hand! The Gates of Hades are opening, and darkness is upon this pitiful land. I call thee, Acathla, by the power of thy name. Arise as flesh that clings to the bone so you to stone.” He raised his eyes to the stone statue in the center of the room. Then, he stepped away from the book, and he started to prance around the room twirling ungracefully as he moved. 

One of the werewolves chortled under his breath. Within seconds, the others had joined him, until even the frightened minions were rolling on the floor in mirth.

“We were kidnapped by a vamp in a purple tutu,” the chortling werewolf snorted. “I know a poofter when I see one.”

Angelus stopped dancing to glare at the werewolf. He always hated when Spike called him by that name, and he sure wasn’t going to let some stupid ass dog malign his manhood. He growled while launching himself at the werewolf.

“Here he comes, Conrad,” the other male werewolf commented. “Better get ready to change.”

“Gotcha, Farkas.” Conrad glanced at the two female wolves. “Ladies.”

The werewolves changed their bodies despite the lack of a full moon. Their changing bodies ripped their clothes and their ropes. The chairs they were tied to collapsed beneath their weight. The four wolves met the enraged vampire head on.

The gathered minions weren’t stupid. They scattered like chickens chased by a fox, leaving Angelus to deal with the four angry werewolves. 

The shapeshifters ripped at the vampire’s body, but being dead flesh they quickly lost their interest. They left Angelus lying on the floor of the mansion with a mangled throat, broken bones, and a hole in his stomach that let his intestines hang out. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

The chaos storm broke, and the stars appeared. It was going to be a beautiful day in Sunnydale. At least for some people…

Angelus crawled out of the mansion, hoping to find a few early morning commuters to snack on to help him heal. Two blocks over he stumbled onto an open door at a nursing home. He spent the day decimating the residents, employees, and visitors until he felt like himself again.

The werewolves found themselves an abandoned building to hide in until they changed back to their regular human selves. During their time as wolves, they realized that there was another of their kind in town. They spent the day debating on whether or not they should search the other lycan out or leave him alone.

Hank woke up realizing he was getting too old to be sleeping on the floor like a kid. The pain was worth it though. He was slowly working off the sins he had perpetuated towards his ex-wife, and he remembered why he’d fallen in love with Joyce in first place. Hank knew his first order of business, after making his Mistress breakfast, was to have his entire company moved to Sunnydale. The second order of business was to hire the ugliest secretary he could find. He just hoped that Joyce didn’t expect him to wear the maid’s costume to work.

Beverly Palmetto and Cynthia Felix, the high school principal and head secretary, went over Snyder’s files. They learned things about their students that made them realize there was more going on than they’d ever realized. Palmetto learned that Buffy Summers was the current Slayer. As a former potential, Beverly knew that life was hard for Slayers, and she vowed she’d do whatever it took to make things better for the young woman.

Diana Dormer lay flat on her back, wondering how she was going to explain herself to Rupert Giles. Entwined around her was her young charge Faith Lehane. The Slayer was a force of nature that Diana was unable to withstand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Willow and Xander spent their school day avoiding everyone associated with their embarrassing display at the Bronze. Buffy and the others didn’t do anything to make them feel the way they did. Both Willow and Xander just felt the way they felt.

Willow did smile shyly at Buffy from across the cafeteria, but she made no attempt to join her. Buffy was talking to Cordelia and Amy, making Willow feel like she would be an intruder.

Xander, on the other hand, did everything he could not to interact with even Willow. He kept his head down between classes and spoke to no one. This was probably a good thing since what Buffy was asking advice about with Cordelia and Amy would have melted his brain.

Buffy put her tray down on a cafeteria table where she was joined by Cordelia and Amy. When she sat down, she let out a small sigh. “Can I ask you guys a question?”

“Sure,” Amy and Cordelia both said.

“Okay, you know Spike’s my boyfriend now, right?” Buffy picked up her fork to poke the mystery meat. “I think I’m having jealousy issues with his preferred method of getting food.”

“What method is that?” Cordelia asked. “Somehow I can’t see Blondie shopping at the local butcher shop.”

“Catch and release, actually,” Buffy said softly. “He doesn’t go for the old, fugly men either.”

“No, I suppose he wouldn’t,” Amy replied in a thoughtful voice. “As the Slayer, you can’t let your boyfriend do that kind of thing.”

“No, not really,” Buffy agreed.

“Don’t have many options then,” Cordelia said. “Either endure or give him a better offer, but I have to tell you that if you’re turned into a blood sucking vamp, we’re not friends anymore.”

Buffy laughed. “Okay, Cordy. If you say so.”

“Honestly, Buffy, Spike’s not your average boyfriend. If you want to keep him, you’re gonna have to put out.”

“Cordelia Chase,” Buffy hissed. “I’m not ready to have sex with him.”

Amy hid her hand and giggled at Buffy’s outrage.

“God, Summers, get your mind out of the gutter,” Cordelia said in a haughty voice. “I meant you’ll have to provide him with incentive to stay. That is if you really want him to.”

“Yeah, I guess I do.” Buffy poked at her food while her mind swirled with thoughts of Spike and his eating habits. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Things should go back to normal now,” Buffy said. She lay on her side, gazing into Spike’s eyes. “Well, as normal as it can be in Sunnydale.”

Spike chuckled while he brushed a lock of hair out of Buffy’s face. “That’s not sayin’ much, luv.”

“You’re probably right.” Buffy grinned in return. “I want you to know I’ve made a decision about your playing catch and release with your food.”

“Oh?” Spike was afraid to say more. He wondered if the Slayer was going to dump him right then and there or worse stake him.

Buffy scooted closer to Spike, and she pressed her wrist to his mouth. “I love you, Spike. I trust that you won’t hurt me. Drink.”

“Slayer?” Spike’s jaw dropped in astonishment, and she pushed her wrist into his mouth.

“I can’t let you harm others, not when I have the solution here in my veins,” Buffy whispered. “Please, Spike.”

Spike grabbed Buffy’s arm to press kisses against her pulse point. He could hear her blood swishing inside her veins. “I love you, too, Buffy. Have since the first moment I saw you. Knew you were something special. So bloody glad I wasn’t able to kill you.” He shifted into game face.

“Yeah, me too.” Buffy let out a little gasp when Spike’s teeth sank into her flesh for the first time. “Feels better than when old punch mouth bit me.”

Spike growled deep in his chest, and his eyes flashed in anger. “Mine,” he snarled into Buffy’s skin.

“Yours.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

In the distance, a barking dog sounded enraged to Xander’s ears. “Stupid dog,” he muttered. “Why won’t it shut up already?”

The dog gave a startled yelp that echoed through the air, and Xander got his wish. “Finally,” he grumbled.

Without the Scoobies to hang out with, Xander was at loose ends. Even his longtime friend Willow avoided him now. After the spell to help Buffy backfired, Will had regrets over not siding with Oz and the others.

“Who needs them?” Xander spat out. He glanced at the darkening sky. He figured since he wasn’t hanging with Buffy anymore that he was safe from Angelus. He studied the stars, feeling free for the first time since meeting Buffy.

“Hello, boy.” Angelus’ face appeared out of the darkness.

Xander let out a shriek, and he scrambled backwards. “Get away! Get away! Get away,” he barked in fear. Angelus was covered in blood, and he smelled a bit funky too. 

“You know, you’re like that barking dog,” Angelus said in a conversational tone. “Yap! Yap! Yap! I wonder if you’ll die as easily as it did.”


	19. A shared umbrella

Chapter 19, a shared umbrella 

“You know, you’re like that barking dog,” Angelus said in a conversational tone. “Yap! Yap! Yap! I wonder if you’ll die as easily as it did.”

Xander calculated the distance between him and the front door to his house. There was no way he was going to call out for his parents, but he wondered if he could make it inside before Angelus caught him.

“Don’t even think it, boy,” Angelus hissed. “You can’t make it to safety in time.” With a vicious laugh, the vampire grabbed Xander by the hair, and he dragged the hapless human into the small bunch of trees across the street from Xander’s house.

Xander’s fingernails dug into the hand that gripped his hair. “Let me go!”

“Not till I get what I want from you, boy,” Angelus snarled. “That bitch Slayer and her new boy toy need a memo. You’re the perfect messenger boy.” He hauled Xander to his feet, and he punched him in the face. 

Xander fell to the ground, clutching his nose while he scrambled away from Angelus. He let out a muffled scream when Angelus leaned down to grab his ankle. He kicked out when the vampire ripped his sweatpants off his lower body. “Don’t! Stop!”

“Don’t stop,” Angelus whispered with a leer. “It’ll be my pleasure.” He reached down to undo his own pants.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Breakfast is served, Mistress.” Hank pushed the bedroom door open with his foot since his hands were carrying a tray of food.

“Come in, Hank,” Joyce said.

Hank entered the room where he found Joyce already propped up against her pillows. He crossed to the bed, and he settled the tray across her lap. “I hope you like it,” he replied. Then, he sank down onto his knees on the throw rug.

“Good boy.” Joyce smiled. She picked up a piece of buttered toast, and she held it to Hank’s mouth. “Bite?”

Hank obediently opened his mouth to take a bite of toast. He slowly chewed the bread and swallowed. “What are your plans for the day, Mistress?”

“I have some items coming in from Nigeria that I need to catalog and decide how best to display. I was told there were several very nice primitive masks in the inventory.” Joyce paused to take a bite of scrambled eggs. “You?”

“I need to find office space for my business, Mistress,” Hank replied. He smiled when Joyce offered him a forkful of eggs. “I hope to see Buffy later at the hotel.”

Joyce put down the fork, and she bit her lip for a moment. “How is she? I mean really. Is she okay?” 

“She seems to be doing splendidly,” Hank rushed to assure Joyce. “I’m not too sure about that young man I’ve seen her hanging out with. I’m not ready to be a grandfather, and he’s a punk.”

Joyce snickered. “He’s a vampire, Hank. There won’t be any grandkids.”

“Oh.” Hank was unsure what to say. He’d always figured he’d have grandchildren someday even if he never got to see them because of his idiocy.

“I just wish I hadn’t been such an idiot.” Joyce pushed the tray away. “Then, she’d be here at home with us instead of some hotel.”

“Find a way to apologize, Joyce.” Hank resolved to tell Buffy to make her own apologies to her mother. Then, maybe they’d be back on speaking terms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Oz stared out into the warm summer rain. He wasn’t graduating that year like he was supposed to do, but that was okay with him. High school hadn’t been the bad experience that he knew others had endured. Oz guessed it was time to brave the weather and make a break for his van.

“Hey, Oz.” Amy Madison came up behind the red haired young man. She carried an umbrella in one hand. “You ready for summer?”

“Hey, Amy.” Oz nodded a greeting. He glanced at the umbrella and with a shrug said, “You’re equipped.”

Amy lifted the umbrella into the air. “I am. Can I walk you to your car all nice and dry?”

“Sure, why not.” Oz opened the door to allow Amy to step outside where she opened the umbrella. Together they strolled across the parking lot towards Oz’s vehicle. Neither the werewolf nor the witch noticed the flash of red hair of a very jealous Willow who watched them from inside the school.

Willow watched Oz and Amy with narrowed eyes. She hated how he had apparently already moved on from her. She knew it was her own fault for siding with Xander, but knowing that fact didn’t make her any happier. Her eyes narrowed further when she saw Oz open his van door for Amy. He was laughing with great abandon at something the other girl had said. 

Willow just knew she had to do something to get Oz back. “Where the heck is Xander when I need him?” she muttered about her missing friend. Her attention had been on Oz all day, but she’d noticed peripherally that her childhood friend hadn’t been at school that day.

“What do you need Xander for?” 

Willow whirled around to find Cordelia standing behind her. “None of your bee’s wax.”

Cordelia rolled her eyes. “You fucked up, Rosenberg. You and that asshole Harris. Leave it well enough alone, and find a new guy to mess around with. I know I will.”

“Like you can do better than Xander! He’s the sweetest, most awesome guy in the whole world!” Willow screamed at Cordelia.

“Well, if you think that, maybe you should date him instead of plotting to get Oz back.” Cordelia combed a lock of hair with two fingers. “I most certainly am. I have a date with Lance Baldwin Jr. this weekend. He’s been trying to catch my interest for ever so long. So, I let him.”

A bright red sports car pulled up outside the school, and a cheery toot of its horn blasted through the air.

“Well, there’s my ride,” Cordelia said. She adjusted her purse on her shoulder before she pushed past Willow. When she put her hand on the door, she continued speaking in a cold, fierce voice. “Don’t be stupid, Willow. Move on. It’s the best for everyone in question.” With a quick push, the door was open, and Cordelia was out into the sunshine.

Willow let out a sigh. Maybe Cordelia was right in this instance. She’d go home, call Xander, and see what was going on with him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Welcome,” Giles said with a smile when Diana peeked through the library doors. “I’m Rupert Giles, Buffy Summers’ Watcher.”

Diana stepped into the room. “I’m Diana Dormer. My Slayer is…”

“Faith Lehane.” A dark haired girl dressed in a short tank top and tight leather pants pushed her way past Diana. “So, where’s the other Slayer? I’m just dying to meet her.”

“Right behind you.”

Faith whirled around to find a blond girl about her height standing in the doorway behind her and Diana. Behind the girl was a bleached blond man that made her vampire sensing tool go into overdrive. “There’s a vamp behind you, B,” Faith drawled.

“Yeah, that’s my boyfriend, Spike,” Buffy replied. 

“You’re dating a vampire?” Faith exclaimed.

Buffy shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea at the time. Anyway, whatcha all doing in Sunnydale.”

“The Council sent us to help with your apocalypse,” Diana said.

“Well, we kinda averted that already,” Buffy replied. “Giles told Angelus he needed to do the ceremony in a tutu.” She looked over her shoulder at Spike. “You don’t think the minions took pictures do you?”

“We should be so lucky,” Spike said with a hoot of laughter. “Probably not, Slayer. Angelus has been pretty brassed off lately. Any minion wantin’ to live wouldn’t do anything that stupid.”

“Well, we have another vampire we need to deal with besides Angelus,” Giles said. “Kakistos followed you both from Boston.”

Spike let out a whistle. “You Slayers sure do attract the butt-uglies. Kakistos makes old Heinrich look like a beauty contestant.” 

“So, you’ve heard of him, Spike?” Giles asked.

“Yeah, back in World War Two. The Germans were pickin’ up vamps to figure out if they could be used as weapons.” Spike gave a sheepish shrug. “If the sign says ‘free virgin’s blood’, it’s too good to be true.”

“Only you, Spike,” Buffy teased.

“Anyway, apparently they tortured a few vamps before they caught me and the uglies that Angel dusted. Got a list of names of the worst of the worst. Kakistos topped the list.” 

“Well, he’ll be here soon.” Giles sighed. He picked up a piece of paper that he held out toward the Slayers, Diana, and Spike. “He and his followers are burning a swath across the country on their way here. They hit several truck stops and hotels already. Burnt them to the ground.”

Diana took the paper. A gasp of shock escaped through her lips. “Those are all places we stopped on the way here. Oh, all those poor people.”


	20. A Hallmark card

Chapter 20

Diana dropped the page of names on the table, and she put her head in her hands. Her stint as an active Watcher wasn’t going too well. First, she fell for the charms for her very, very young charge, and now there was a vicious vampire following her and Faith across the country leaving a path of destruction in their wake.

Faith picked the paper up, and she started to study the patterns in killing.

“Any idea if they’re in town yet?” Buffy asked.

Giles shook his head. “No, I expect you or Spike would have a better idea about that. I suggest you check your sources to find out.”

“Willy’s?” Buffy asked Spike.

Spike gave a simple nod. Kakistos was competition for territory, and Spike didn’t like competition. It was part of the reason why he’d tossed the Annoying One into the sun. If he hadn’t been in the wheelchair when Angelus reappeared, he probably would have fought the old git for his place in Dru’s life. Now, he was glad for his handicap. Otherwise, he’d have never found what he didn’t know he was missing.

Buffy.

“Okay, Giles,” Buffy said. “Spike and I will go see Willy. Then, we’ll hit a few other demon hot spots.”

“Let me know what you find out.” Then, Giles turned to Diana and Faith. “While they’re out gathering information, we should come up with a viable plan of attack.”

“Two Slayer, two Watchers, and a vamp. Not sure that’s enough firepower for baddie like Kakistos.” Faith finally dropped the paper on the table. “He’s damned bad ass, and I think he has minions.”

“We have other people willing to help us,” Buffy said. “A cheerleader and two witches. Serina is still in town,” she exclaimed. “And a werewolf.”

“Make that five werewolves,” Oz said while he came through the door. Amy and four strangers followed close behind. “This is Conrad, Farkas, Dot, and Kelsa.“

They’re the werewolves that Angelus found to do his ritual,” Amy explained.

“We’re still here. So, old Twinkletoes must have been unsuccessful.” Spike snorted. 

Conrad narrowed his eyes. _This must be the vampire Oz warned me about,_ he thought. “Yes,” he answered aloud. “We were able to morph and attack him. We hurt him pretty badly, but I think he’s probably recovered.”

“Why do you say that?” Giles asked.

Dot dug into her purse, and she handed the older man a Sunnydale News Today clipping. “A nursing home a few blocks over from where he held us was decimated yesterday. I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it.”

“Unfortunately, it’s not an uncommon occurrence in Sunnydale,” Giles said softly. “Buffy, you and Spike go. We need to know if Kakistos has made it to town. Two power hungry vampires running amok might make for a very nasty war.”

“Okay.” Buffy nodded. She turned, and she took Spike’s arm. “Can we stop at the store before we go anywhere? I’m kinda hungry.”

“Whatever my lady desires.” Spike and Buffy left to the sound of Giles introducing Faith and her Watcher to Amy and the werewolves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“It’s my mom’s birthday. I need to send her a card.” Buffy picked up a Hallmark card off the rack. She showed the front to Spike. “Mom likes violets.”

“Have you talked to your mum since she gave you the boot?” Spike leaned against the pillar in the center of the aisle. His arms were crossed over his chest.

Buffy shook her head. “No, I’ve been scared to.” She picked up another card to compare to the first. “I’m hoping this can be my peace offering. Which one do you like best?” 

“I doubt Joyce will care.” Spike shrugged after giving the cards a precursory glance. “She’ll just be happy to hear from you.”

“Look, it’s Spike and the Slayer.” Several minions appeared at the end of the aisle. The leader was a tall, dark haired male with broad shoulders and a heavy brow.

Spike hitched up an eyebrow. “Look, it’s Lenny the pissant.”

“Come on, boss,” Lenny whined. “Don’t be like that. I’m here to tell you about some new vamps in town. They’re recruiting pretty heavily.”

“Kissing Toast?” Buffy asked. Her attention back to the card selection now that she knew the vampires were there to talk to Spike. If they caused trouble, she could always stake them later.

Lenny looked at Spike for clarification. He wasn’t sure if the Slayer was pulling his leg or not.

“Kakistos,” Spike replied.

Lenny nodded. “Yeah, that’s the guy, and he’s got this smart ass black guy with him. Name of Trick or something like that.” 

“Guess that answers that question,” Spike sighed. “Any idea where these gits are hidin’ out?”

“Abandoned warehouse on the other side of town,” Lenny replied. 

“Where’s Angel?” Buffy asked suddenly. “We know the ritual with the rock demon was bust.”

“Well.” One of the other minions rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s like this. He said the word, did the dance, the werewolves kinda morphed, and attacked him. We’re not sure where he crawled off to.”

“I like this one the best.” Buffy showed Spike the card with the violets on the front.

Spike nodded at Buffy, and then he asked the minion, “What’s your name again?”

“Chad.”

“I have a few instructions to give pissant and Chad here. I’ll catch you at the checkout stand,” Spike said to Buffy.

“Okay, but you better warn them if I catch them killing people that I’ll stake their sorry asses.” Buffy grabbed an envelope for her card, and she started off towards the front of the store.

Spike watched Buffy strut away, and then, he turned to Lenny and Chad. “Well, you’ve been warned. Now, down to business. Find Angelus. He’s not going to get to interfere with the Slayer and me.”

“Sure thing, boss,” Lenny said. 

Chad nodded his agreement. He was amazed that Lenny got away with calling Spike by something other than Master.

“Get out of here,” Spike snarled. He turned away from the minions, knowing that they would do as he ordered or deal with the consequences.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Willow picked up the phone for what felt like the hundredth time. She had no idea what to say to Xander about the things that had happened in the past couple of weeks. Finally, she put on her resolve face, and she dialed the Harris’ number.

RING!

RING!

RING!

“Hello.” A male voice came across the line. “Harris resident.”

“H-hello, Mr. Harris,” Willow said in a hesitant manner. “I was wondering if I could talk to Xander.”

“I’m sorry, but the phone doesn’t reach to the basement closet,” Mr. Harris answered. “There is something definitely off about that boy.”

“Xander’s hiding in a closet?” Willow asked. She was confused. 

“Yes, he is,” Mr. Harris growled. 

“Any idea why?” Willow chewed her lip while she wondered if the end of the chaos spell she’d heard the others talking about had caused Xander to go a little weird.

“After his friend came by to visit last night, he came back into the house hysterical,” Mr. Harris’ voice was filled with disgust. “He insisted that I never invite anyone into the house. I swear, that boy needs a slap upside the head.”

Willow narrowed her eyes. She didn’t think anyone from school had gone to see Xander, but she had to be sure. “Which friend is that?”

“Some light in the loafers slob named Angelus,” Mr. Harris muttered. “What the fuck kinda name is that?”

“You didn’t invite him in, did you?” 

“Not hardly.” Mr. Harris’ voice dripped with loathing.

“Tell Xander I’ll be by to see him right after school tomorrow,” Willow gasped. She knew she had to find out what had happened to her friend. Things were getting so out of control, she didn’t know what to do about it.

“Yeah, whatever.” Mr. Harris slammed the phone down.

Willow winced at the sound. She laid the receiver in its cradle while a thought crossed her mind. “Angel has an invite here,” she whispered. “I’m in so much trouble.”


	21. Hiding in the closet

Chapter 21, hiding in the closet

Spike leaned back against the pillows while he watched Buffy dart around the room collecting her school things. “Isn’t school out for summer yet?” he asked. “Why the heck are you leavin’ so bloody early anyway?”

“Just a couple of more days,” Buffy said without looking up from her pursuit of a missing book. “I’m going early because I want to drop this card off at Mom’s gallery, and I have a meeting with the principal.”

Spike narrowed his eyes. “They’re not givin’ you any grief about the Island bint, are they?”

“No.” Buffy shook her head. “I really think that Principal Palmetto was a potential. I mean there’s just something in the way she carries herself, you know.”

Spike nodded with a smirk. “Slayers do move in a certain way.”

“Plus the way she looks at me. Like she knows what’s going on in my life.”

“Maybe your last year in school will turn out to be better than the last few,” Spike replied. One of the many things that he and Buffy had talked about late at night in the dark was how being a Slayer had affected her life.

Buffy snorted. “As long as certain bored vampires keep away from the doilies, I’m sure I’ll have a fine senior year.”

“Guess you better make sure I’m not bored then, Slayer.”

Buffy looked up at Spike. He leered at her while he sensually posed for her with one hand behind his head, and the other hand rubbed down his naked chest towards the top of his black jeans. “You are so not going to tempt me into playing hooky, Spike,” she grumbled. 

“You’re taking all my fun away,” Spike said with a pout. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Xander huddled in the back of the basement closet. He hadn’t left his house since Angelus’ attack. One thing about living in a town where there were daily disappearances was that the truancy officers didn’t take notice of yet another absence.

Mrs. Harris, unusually concerned about her son, tapped on the closet door. “Xander, I left some lunch for you.” She hesitated for a moment. “Can I call someone for you? What about that nice young man who came to see you the other night? Angelus, I think he said. Odd name.”

Xander scrambled to the door, and he opened it just a crack. “You didn’t invite him in, did you?” he asked in a panic.

“Of course not, dear,” Mrs. Harris laughed. “Born and bred in Sunnydale, aren’t we? I wasn’t that drunk.”

“Well, don’t, Mom,” Xander pleaded. “He’s a bad, bad thing.”

“If you say so.” Mrs. Harris turned to go. “Uncle Rory might be stopping by today. If you hear anything going on upstairs, it’s just him.”

Xander watched his mother’s back retreat up the stairs before he opened the door far enough to pull the food inside with him. He had to admit he was starving, and his mom had given him all of his favorite foods. Xander was half way finished when he realized how tired he was. With a yawn, he closed his eyes to fall asleep.

“Is he asleep yet?” Uncle Rory whispered to his brother in law. “Are you sure we need to take him to Lakeshore? I mean I’ve heard some bad things about that Rocky Hill asylum.”

Mr. Harris shrugged. “Your sister thinks it’s for the best.”

Uncle Rory shook his head. “Okay, if you say so, but I better get some serious cash out of this.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Willow knocked on the Harris’ front door. She’d spent the entire day at school worried about Xander. After her phone conversation with Mr. Harris the night before, she didn’t feel comfortable calling the house again. Face to face seemed to be the better option.

The front door opened, and Mrs. Harris peered out. “Yes?” Then, she recognized the visitor on the porch. “Why hello, Willow. What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to see Xander, Mrs. Harris,” Willow said as politely as she could. She shifted her backpack straps to a more comfortable position. “Maybe I can get him out of the closet that your husband said he was hiding in.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Willow.” Mrs. Harris glanced back into the house. “Rory just left with Xander. He was completely traumatized by something. I have no idea what. We thought it was best if he got professional help.”

Willow gaped at Mrs. Harris. “Where is Rory taking Xander?”

“Over to the Rocky Hill sanitarium, of course.” Mrs. Harris shrugged. “We were very lucky they had an opening and were able to admit him.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” Willow said. “I would have helped him. I’m sure he didn’t need to go to Rocky Hill.”

“Well, you’re not his parent, now are you, missy?” Mrs. Harris said in a curt tone. “Go away.” Then, she slammed the door in Willow’s face.

Willow stared at the closed door for several long minutes. Finally, she muttered, “This is so, so of the bad.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Spike and Buffy lay on the bed facing each other. Spike had just fed from Buffy’s wrist, and he was in a very good mood. 

“You’re warring between feeling good and being all bad moody,” Buffy said. “What’s up?”

“Heard from Lenny just before you got here,” Spike replied.

Buffy sighed. “Do I even want to know?”

“Might be a good idea,” Spike said with a shrug. “It’s not good news.”

“Never is. So, what’s the what?”

Spike pulled Buffy close, and he nestled her face into his chest. “Drusilla’s left town. Apparently she wasn’t happy with Angelus, and she upped and left his sorry arse.”

“One less vamp for me to fight.” Buffy looped her arm around Spike while she snuggled close.

“Angelus moved out of the mansion. Oz’s pack has moved in. Rumor has it that the witch girl is pulling a few of her magical friends in there too.”

“Good for her,” Buffy replied. “There’s more though, isn’t there?”

Spike chuckled. “Anyone who says you’re a dumb blond is downright stupid.”

“You’re stalling though,” Buffy said. “I can see it in your eyes. You have some really bad, bad news.”

“Yeah,” Spike said. He didn’t like how the Harris boy had treated Buffy while under the influence of the chaos, but nobody deserved Angelus’ personal attention. “Angelus is braggin’ about what he did to your mate, Harris.”

“What did he do?” Buffy’s voice hardened, and she tensed against Spike’s body. “Is Xander dead or turned?”

After a long pause, Spike whispered, “That would probably be better. Being dead, I mean. Angelus raped your friend, Slayer. Most likely as a message to you.”

“How? Angel didn’t have an invite to Xander’s house.”

“Lured him away most likely. Does he have an invite anywhere else?”

“Mom’s, Giles’, Willow’s.”

“Bloody hell, Slayer. He could be there right now, doin’ more harm.” Spike tightened his grip on Buffy when she tried to sit up.

“We need to do something.” Buffy shoved against Spike. “Is there a way to uninvite a vampire?”

“Magic.”

“We need to get Giles, Serina, and Amy on it right away.” Buffy pushed against Spike again. “Let me up. I need to call Giles right now.”

Spike sighed, and he let go of Buffy. “Get the Watcher on the horn, luv. I need to talk to him anyway.”

“About what?” Buffy leapt off the bed, and she went to the phone.

“The Gem of Amara. There’s a legend about a stone that can make vampires able to go in the sun.”

Buffy looked over her shoulder at the vampire still lounging on the bed. “Are you serious ?”

“As a heartbeat.”


	22. I don't know where the hell I put them

Chapter 22 I don’t know where the hell I put them

“Boss,” Lenny hissed to get Spike’s attention. He was glad the Slayer was at the other end of the cemetery. No matter how much he blustered, the young warrior woman scared the piss out of him, and he had no idea how Spike could stand to be so close to her. “I found Kakistos and his entourage.”

The words instantly had Spike’s attention. “Where is he?”

“Warehouse on the east side. He’s there with his minions,” Lenny answered. “Chad’s keeping an eye out. What now?”

“We eliminate them.”

“When are we going after them?” Lenny asked. “Tonight?”

Spike tapped his chin. “No, I’ll talk the Slayers and the Scoobies into doing a torch job during the day. That way none of them will get away. I want you and Chad to block any sewer entrances that the warehouse might have.”

“Sure thing, Boss.” Lenny gave Spike a puzzled look. “You thing you can really talk the Slayer into doing a torch job?”

“Just have to word it right.” Spike shrugged. “Kakistos’ followers have no problem sacrificin’ themselves for him. I’d prefer Buffy doesn’t get hurt by the wankers.”

Lenny mentally shook his head. Sure, the Slayer was cute enough, but he didn’t really understand her appeal. _To each their own._ As long as he didn’t get staked, he was a happy camper.

Twelve hours later the Slayers, Diana, Oz, and the other werewolves stood outside Kakistos’ lair watching it burn. Dot and Kelsa’s attentions was focused primarily on making sure that the vampires inside the warehouse didn’t escape their fiery death.

“Kissing Toast is kinda old,” Buffy observed. “Older than the Master, for sure. We should find his bones later, smush them up, and throw them in the ocean. That way nobody can try to bring him back.”

Oz glanced at the other werewolves. Somehow, he’d become the unofficial leader of their little group, despite Farkas’ greater knowledge of werewolf lore. “We’ll stick around, Buffy. Make sure nothing escapes.” 

Farkas and Conrad nodded their agreement.

“Thanks, Oz.” Buffy glanced past the alpha werewolf. “Thanks, guys. I have to jet in a few, I’m afraid. I have one more final to take this afternoon. American Lit. I’m so glad Spike helped me study.”

Diana held back her reaction to hearing how helpful the senior Slayer’s pet vampire appeared to be. “There’s one more vampire we need to take out, isn’t there? Angelus?” Apparently William the Bloody wasn’t this Slayer’s first pet vampire.

“Yeah, we’re going after him tonight.” Buffy rubbed the side of her face. “Thing is, if he ever actually gets a clue about statue we’re in big trouble.”

“Do you need help, B?” Faith asked. “I know a lot about exes who go to the dark side after sex.”

“Nah. Thanks for offering though. I think Giles, Spike, and I can handle Angelus. He’s not as tough as he thinks he is.” Buffy gave Faith a tight smile. It was still hard on her, having to kill her ex-lover, but having Spike on her side helped tremendously. “Besides the three of us have the most motives to dust him.”

“I’m glad Giles has Anyanka now,” Oz replied. “He lost it when Angelus killed Ms. Calendar.”

“Totally!” Buffy agreed, showing her Valley Girl beginnings. “I just -- well not the W word -- but you know, she’d told us who she was before all the bad crap happened.”

Oz grunted, and the werewolves nodded in agreement. Of course, things weren’t looking too bad for them. They had an alpha now, and they were considered a pack.

“Maybe if _he_ had said something,” Buffy continued. “I mean, if I were cursed by gypsies I would have tried to find out what the whole spiel was.”

Dot let out a snort of laughter. “He’s an idiot.”

“I agree,” Kelsa replied. She glanced sideways at Farkas and Conrad. “Most men are.”

“Hey, I resemble that remark,” Conrad cried out. He grinned when the others laughed at him.

“Well, now that Kakistos is gone, where are we going next?” Faith asked Diana.

“There’s a Hellmouth in Cleveland. It’s not as big, or as powerful, as the one here,” the Watcher said.

“Plenty of demons to go around here in Sunnydale,” Buffy said. “You’re welcome to stay.”

“Maybe.” Diana gave a shrug. “Depends on what the Council has to say.”

Buffy looked at her watch. “I’m off to take my final. Thanks for the help, guys.”

“No problem,” Oz replied. The other werewolves gave Buffy a wave good-bye when she started off towards the high school.

“Screw the Council,” Faith said. “Sunnydale is way too interesting to leave, for a while at least. It has witches, werewolves, and way too many fun things to kill.” She slung her arm around Diana’s shoulders. “Wanna go back to the hotel and fuck, baby?”

Diana blushed at Faith’s bluntness, but she allowed the young Slayer to lead her away from the vigilant werewolves. They’d probably be there watching the burning warehouse well into the night. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“I don’t know where the hell I put them,” Buffy grumbled. She glanced around the hotel room again.

“Put what, luv?” Spike looked up from his book. He lay sprawled on the bed clad only in his jeans.

“Those swords we took off that Dragoon demon last night.”

“They’re under the bed.” Spike went back to reading. “What do you need them for?”

Buffy shrugged. “Giles called while you were sleeping. We’re going after Angelus at dusk.”

Spike immediately sat up. “Are you okay with that, Slayer?” He had no idea what the Slayer thought about Angelus anymore. She hadn’t spoken that much about the elder vampire since Spike had left the mansion.

“Of course I am.” Buffy looked at Spike. She gave him a small smile before she crossed the room to him where she stood between his legs. She rested her hands on his shoulders.

Spike settled his hands on her hips while he stared up into Buffy’s face. “I’m so in love with you, Slayer. You better not do anything stupid.”

“It’s a good thing you’re coming with us, then, huh?” Then, a soft, sweet smile crossed Buffy’s face when she realized what Spike had said in relations with his feeling for her. “Oh thank God, I thought I was the only one. I’m so in love with you too.” She cupped Spike’s face with her hands, and she leaned down.

“Buffy.” Her name fell from his lips just before their mouths met.


	23. A man standing alone under a streetlight in the middle of the night

Chapter 23 A man standing alone under a streetlight in the middle of the night

“Where’s Buffy?” Giles asked when Spike entered the library alone.

“Her father showed up with Joyce at the hotel restaurant,” Spike replied. He threw himself into a chair. “They’re negotiatin’ Buffy’s return home.”

Giles peered at Spike over the top of his glasses. “How do you feel about that?” 

Spike shrugged. “The Slayer loves her Mum. Hates disappointin’ the lady. You know, keepin’ secrets is hard on Buffy. You did both of them an injustice, Watcher.”

“Maybe. I felt justified at the time.”

“B’fore Buffy gets here I think we should discuss which of us is gonna dust Angelus.” Spike stared at Giles while he gauged the human’s reactions to his suggestion. So far, so good, even if there was a slight glimpse of hesitation from behind Giles’ glasses.

“That’s Buffy’s job. She’s the Slayer,” Giles protested weakly.

“Have you had to dust someone you loved?” Spike asked.

“Can’t say that I have. How about yourself?”

Spike turned away from Giles to avoid showing his feelings. “Once. Long ago when I was fledgling.”

Giles’ eyebrows rose. “Really?”

“Do you want the details, Rupes? Something excitin’ to write in your Watcher’s journals?” The final death of his mother was still a touchy subject even if Spike was the one who brought it up.

“Not hardly, Spike. However, I can see your point about Angelus.”

“See that you do.” Spike tilted his head towards the door. “The Slayer’s almost here.”

Buffy burst into the room with a big, bright grin. “Mom says I can come home tonight,” she announced.

Spike smiled at Buffy. “Guess I’ll be on the lookout for a nice crypt or vacant warehouse to bed down in.”

Buffy wrinkled her nose. “Ew.”

“Don’t worry, luv. I’ll fix it up nice enough that even your mum can come visit.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* 

Angelus stood under the streetlight directly in the middle of the pool of light. His confidence was at an all-time high. There was no way that Buffy would stake him. If she did then Angel, the love of her life, would be gone too. Angelus was quite sure she would be very unwilling to lose the ensouled idiot.

It didn’t matter if she was ‘with’ Spike now. Angelus knew she didn’t really love the little bleached blond irritant. She loved Angel. He was her ‘soul mate’. 

“Hello, lover,” Angelus cooed when Buffy appeared. He leered at the petite blond. “You here from some sex from a real man? Spike just not scratching your itch?”

Buffy smirked. “Oh, he’s itching it just fine. I brought you a present.” She pulled her swords out from behind her back.

“Oh, weapons, how wonderful.”

“Yes, they are. Quite wonderful in fact. You can admire them as they chop your head off.”

Giles and Spike stepped up behind Buffy. They both leveled crossbows at Angelus.

“You sure you want to get that close and personal with the poofter?” Spike asked.

“You’re gonna have to explain that one to me later.” Buffy smiled at Spike. “I mean, really, what is a poofter?”

Angelus growled when he saw the smile. He stepped towards Buffy. The air was filled with dual whistling noises, and Angelus looked down to find two arrows sticking out of his heart. “Damn,” he muttered before he turned to dust.

Buffy stomped her foot when Angelus was gone. “I thought I was supposed to dust him?”

“Next time, pet,” Spike promised. “Rupes and I decided dustin’ a vamp that looks like a loved one would be detrimental to your mental health.

Buffy glared at her Watcher. “You’re ruining him with your tweediness, Giles.”

Giles rolled his eyes, and then he said quite primly, “He’s doing that all on his own, Buffy.”

“Whatever!” Buffy winked at the two Brits. Then, her eyes turned a little sad. “I wish we could have saved Angel. He didn’t deserve to die because of Angelus.” She leaned against Spike with her head on his shoulder.

Spike suppressed the urge to scream in a very manly, dignified manner. Instead, he just put his arm around Buffy. Now wasn’t the time to disillusion the Slayer about her ex-lover. There was plenty of time for that later after their relationship was more established.

Giles gave Buffy and awkward pat on the shoulder. “You did your best, Buffy.”

“You sure did, luv.”

“Maybe, but everything’s different now,” Buffy said. “Angel’s gone. He’s been gone for months really, and because of my stupidity, he killed Ms. Calendar.”

Giles sighed. If he didn’t keep an eye on Buffy’s she’d take everyone’s guilt onto her own shoulders – and all the blame too. “Ms. Calendar made the choice to keep her identity and purpose in Sunnydale a secret from all of us. If we’d known, we may have been able to protect her.”

“I agree, Slayer,” Spike said. “You’re not Superwoman.”

Buffy didn’t look too convinced, but she finally nodded in agreement. “Okay, Giles. I’ll try to keep the guilt to minimum.”

“Good girl.” Giles looked around. “Now, apparently, I have a date with Anyanka that I need to get ready for. Where does one take an 1100 year old vengeance demon in Sunnydale?”

“Well, she’s still a woman at heart, Giles,” Buffy said. “Take her someplace nice.”

“I don’t know, pet. I’ve had some pretty lively conversations with the demon girl. She probably thinks the Rusty Beaver is someplace nice.”

A look of horror crossed Giles’ face at the thought of taking a date to a demonic strip club. “I think not.”

“Take her to the Sage Room.” Buffy giggled while she patted Giles’ arm. “Cordelia gave it rave reviews from when her dad took her there for her birthday. If Cordy liked it, it has to be ‘nice’.”

“I’ll go right down to the bank to take out a loan right away,” Giles groused. “You two run along. You don’t want to be late moving Buffy home again.”

“Will you be okay?” Buffy asked. She glanced around at the darkening shadows.

“I’ll be fine. If I run into any trouble, I’ll just call for Anyanka.”

“You do that, mate. Demon girl dotes on you.” Spike gave Buffy an exaggerated wink.

“Takes a doter to know a doter,” Giles replied. He waved Spike and Buffy away. “Now go.”


	24. Up a tree

Chapter 24, Up a Tree

Giles shifted nervously from one foot to the other while he stood in front of the door to Anyanka’s new Sunnydale apartment. In one hand he clutched a bouquet of flowers and in the other a box of chocolates. He was sure it was a very trite gesture, but Buffy and Cordelia insisted that Anyanka would love it. After all, courtship rituals 1100 years ago probably didn’t involve such sweet gestures.

The door opened. “Right on time, Rupert,” Anyanka said. She smiled at the anxious man. “You are looking quite dapper this evening.”

Giles took a gulp of air before he replied, “You look quite lovely yourself.” His eyes swept over the bright red dress and shoes that Anyanka was wearing. He thrust the flowers and candy at her. “These are for you.”

“Thank you.” Anyanka smiled at Giles while she stepped to the side. “Let me put these in water. Why don’t you come in?”

Giles glanced at his watch. “For a moment. We have a reservation at The Sage Room in forty-five minutes.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Spike looked first at the front door of Buffy’s house, and then he stared at the tree branch that hung close to her window. These were the choices a vampire had to make to see his girl. Should he be direct or be sneaky? He was sure he was supposed to be sneaky, but there was something to be said about speaking to his beloved’s mother to gain access to her. Above him, the window opened.

“Psst, Spike?” Buffy’s voice floated down through the night air. “Are you coming up?”

“Hey, pet,” Spike said. “I was just trying to decide if I should sneak into the Slayer’s fortress or knock on the drawbridge?”

Buffy laughed. “Mom’s having Dad do the dishes in his Frankenfurter costume. Unless you want to bleach your brain more than you already do, I suggest you climb up the tree and sneak in.”

“Good choice.” Spike let out a chuckle before he leapt up into the tree.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Joyce raised her eyes towards the ceiling. “Spike’s visiting Buffy.”

“Should our seventeen year old daughter be entertaining a boy in her bedroom?” Hank asked. He continued to swab the plate he was holding with the soapy rag.

“They’ve been alone in a hotel room for several weeks now, Hank. It’s a little late to get after them,” Joyce replied.

“I suppose.” Hank rinsed the plate before he moved onto the next dish.

“Tell me how your business transfer is going,” Joyce commanded. 

Hank let out a small sigh of contentment while he started to speak. Maybe he should have had Joyce take complete control of their marriage years before the divorce. Not that it mattered now. She was in total power now, and he loved it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Willow mixed the cookie dough. She sniffled while she thought about all the badness that happened in the past few weeks. Buffy wasn’t her friend anymore, and Xander was institutionalized. She’d tried to get in to see him, but his doctor wasn’t allowing visitors yet. 

The cookies Willow planned on baking had a dual purpose. She’d box up half of the batch to send to Xander. He needed to know he wasn’t forgotten. The rest she’d take to the next Scooby meeting to woo her friends. She hoped they would forgive her in time.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Faith rode Diane’s rubber cock with enthusiasm. A stop at Shadow’s Den of Pleasure resulted in the purchase of a strap on that now adorned Diane’s lean, athletic frame. With every downward press of the Slayer’s body, the Watcher let out a groan of pleasure.

“You’re so beautiful, D,” Faith murmured. “Gonna fuck you over and over until you’re a puddle of goo in my bed.”

Diane let out another moan. She shuddered when the words were accompanied by a particularly vigorous thrust of Faith’s hips. She could feel her climax quickly approaching.

Faith grinned when she felt Diane’s orgasm underneath her. Every time she caused one, the Watcher fell deeper and deeper under her spell. Faith had never expected to fall in love with a woman. She loved cocks. However there was no other way to explain her feelings.

Thank God for well equipped sex shops.

The dark haired Slayer sat back on her haunches, and she plucked at her lover’s nipples. “Come for me, baby,” she whispered in a husky voice.

“Faith!” Diane screamed while she succumbed to her pleasure again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Serina Brennan’s great, great, great aunt was a visionary but not in the way normal people thought. Abigail Brennan could see the future with a proven accuracy. Serina had the same talent, but her insights appeared with less frequency. Although, she’d learned at a very young age to heed her visions, much like her ancestor had.

However, Serina had a secret. It was a secret that no one but her doctor back in England knew about.

Serina didn’t fear Death. He walked by her side all the time now. A malignant growth developed deep within her brain where no surgeon or scalpel could reach. Serina had despaired finding an heir for her visions. Having a baby at this point was no guarantee, and she wouldn’t want to leave her baby an orphan.

Hope came in the disguise of one Cordelia Marie Chase.

There was more to Serina’s vision though, much more, and she needed to tell Cordelia and some her friends what their future held. Serina knocked on the door of the Crawford Street mansion that the werewolves had taken over after the departure of Angelus.

Dot opened the door. When she saw Serina, she grinned. “Hey, Serina. Here to join the party?”

“Party?”

“Yeah, didn’t you hear?” Dot stepped back while she beckoned Serina inside. “Giles and Spike disposed of Angelus.”

“Not Buffy?” Serina asked as she stepped past Dot. “Or Faith?”

Dot shook her head. “No, according to Oz, Spike and Giles didn’t want Buffy to feel the burden of dusting someone wearing the face of a loved one. Can’t say I blame them. I know I’d have a hard time doing that.”

“I also would have a hard time with it,” Serina said.

“Anyway, we’re trying to figure out what’s next for our new clan,” Dot said. She led Serina towards the living room. “Oz and Amy have another year of high school.”

“I have a suggestion,” Serina answered. “If you’re interested in hearing it.”

“All ideas are welcome.” Dot grinned. “Yours can’t be any crazier than Conrad’s.”

Dot and Serina stepped into the living room.

“Did I hear my name taken in vain?” Conrad called out when he saw Dot and Serina. “Hey, I thought opening a nudist colony was an excellent idea.”

“Well, you are the vainest person I know,” Dot teased. “There’s no way you’re seeing me naked. So stop trying.” She walked over to Farkas, and she sat down beside him.

Serina smiled at the group of young people. “I think I have a solution to your future plans. She turned to Cordelia. “Some of which depends on you, Ms. Chase.”

“Me? Why me?”

Serina sat down beside Cordelia, took her hand, and told her everything.


	25. If it were up your ass, you'd know where it was

Chapter 25, if it were up your ass, you’d know where it was. 

“I’m so sorry, Buffy.” Willow presented Buffy with a plate of apology cookies.

Buffy looked past Willow. “Where’s your cohort in spell casting?”

Willow’s face crumbled. “Mr. and Mrs. Harris took Xander to a sanitarium. I think Angelus attacked him. His mom mentioned a dark haired man named Liam. Wasn’t that Angel’s name before he was turned?”

“If it were up your ass, you’d know where it was,” Spike said to Giles as they entered the library. The two Brits stopped when they saw the awkward plateau already playing out in the rom. “Everything, okay?” Spike asked the Slayer.

Buffy shrugged. “Apparently Angelus attacked Xander. His parents had him committed.” 

“Oh good Lord,” Giles muttered. “I will call his parents for information right away.”

Buffy let out a small shuddering sigh. “Dad convinced Mom to put me away after I burned down Hemery’s gym. He thought I was a pyromaniac.”

“He’s been set straight now though,” Spike growled. It made his blood hot to think that Hank had treated Buffy so badly.

Buffy nodded. “Yeah, it’s all good in Buffy-land these days.”

The other Scoobies entered the library chatting amongst themselves. Willow stiffened for a moment when she saw Oz holding Amy’s hand. Then, she plastered a smile on her face.

“Cookie?” Willow chirped.

The Scoobies stared at Willow – the werewolves were openly hostile -- until Oz stepped forward with Amy. “Thanks, Willow.” He took two cookies, and he handed one to Amy.

Buffy looked around at her friends. “You all look like you’re happy.”

“So, do you,” Cordelia replied. She plopped down beside Buffy.

“I have my friends safe and sound, my parents together again, and the best boyfriend in the world. How about you?” Buffy confided in Cordelia.

Cordelia grinned. “I have my friends safe and sound, a really cool destiny to fulfill, and no boyfriend at the moment. However, I’m keeping my options open.”

“Destiny?” Buffy gave Cordelia an interested look. It was nice to know she wasn’t the only one. “Do tell.”

“Serina came to talk to us.” Cordelia waved at the werewolf pack and Amy. “She’s dying, you see.”

“Serina told Cordy that she’s going to give her the psychic powers that she inherited from an ancestor,” Kelsa jumped in.

“Serina is dying?” Giles asked. He was saddened that his friend hadn’t told him that information.

“Inoperable brain tumor,” Cordelia replied. “She had a vision about me that made her decide to make me her heir.” She shook her head. “She seems very sincere. We’re going to Los Angeles after graduation to start up an agency to help the hopeless.”

“She gave us a warning about a demonic law firm,” Dot said.

“Wolfram and Hart,” Spike said with a nod of his head. “Best spend the next year studyin’ them so you all know what you’re up against. They’re a very, very Big Bad. Makes Angelus look like Mary Poppins.” 

“Oz and I will start looking for colleges there too,” Amy replied. She gave Oz a shy smile. “He makes me want to better myself.”

“Good old UC Sunnydale for me,” Buffy said. “Can’t leave the Hellmouth unguarded.”

“We’re thinking about asking Faith and Diana to join us in Los Angeles,” Cordelia said.

“Sounds like a plan. Close enough to call for help,” Buffy said. She turned to Amy. “Can I ask you for a favor?”

“Sure thing.”

Buffy sighed. “I think Willow here needs to focus on something besides the magic. Maybe her computer skills would be better for her now right now. Could you find us someone magical to be here in Sunnydale when you guys go to Los Angeles?”

“But, Buffy…” Willow protested.

“No buts.” Buffy patted Willow on the arm. “You did that spell on Xander all willy-nilly, even after Amy warned you.”

Willow gave a shrug of surrender, but on the inside she seethed with anger. She carefully kept her feelings from her voice. “Sure, Buffy.”

“Awesome.” Buffy grinned at Willow. 

_This is bullshit_ , Willow grumbled to herself. _I’ll show Buffy that I’m ten times the witch Amy is._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

SIX MONTHS LATER (GINGERBREAD)

“I can’t believe Willow changed all the parents into rats,” Buffy muttered.

“I’m just glad Joyce and Hank were out of town on business,” Spike replied. He pulled Buffy closer. They were lying in Buffy’s bed.

“Me too.” Buffy laid her head on Spike’s shoulder. 

“It’s a good thing it was just us and Willow that Hansel and Gretel targeted. I’d hate for Willow to have turned Rupes into a rat.” Spike and the Watcher had bonded over the disposal of Angelus, and now they were quite close.

“You think the pack’s havin’ any luck findin’ that witch Cordelia saw in her vision?”

“I’m sure they are. They haven’t called yet,” Spike said to reassure Buffy.

Buffy sighed. “I told Willow to stop with the magic.”

“I know you did, Slayer. Red’s got some issues she needs to deal with. She needs to learn magic has consequences.”

“Stupid Angelus,” Buffy grumbled. “Him and his stupid statue.”

Spike laughed. “I’ve been saying that for years, luv.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“That was brilliant, my dear,” D’Hoffryn said with a toothy grin. He motioned for the bartender to refill Willow’s glass. “You really showed them all.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Willow replied proudly. Her successful casting of the spell to turn all the adults trying to burn her at stake caused her to not even speculate at the identity of who she was bragging to. “Now, Buffy and her stupid Scoobies can’t deny how powerful I am.”

“No, they can’t,” D’Hoffryn agreed with a sly grin on his face. “I know how to make you more powerful.”

“You do?” Willow ignored the demon’s ugly visage. She was interested in anything that could make her more powerful. “More powerful than Buffy and Amy?”

“More powerful than all those so-called Scoobies put together.” D’Hoffryn was sure he had Willow in his trap. All he need was reel her in.

“Oh yes, please!”

D’Hoffryn pulled a pendant out of the pocket. “This will make you powerful enough to change the world.”

Willow didn’t even take the time to consider the consequences of her actions. She grabbed the pendant, and she slipped the chain over her head. “I can feel it,” she cooed when the stone settled between her breasts. She raised her hands in the air to cast a spell, but when she uttered the words nothing happened.

“Oops,” D’Hoffryn chuckled. “I forgot to tell you, all your power only works for me now.”

“What?” Willow shrieked. “You lying no good demon poop head guy.”

D’Hoffryn shrugged. “Your vengeance was so brilliant and tasty I knew I couldn’t let you get away.”

“You tricked me.”

“I’m a demon. What do you expect?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“You have no idea what she is,” Donald Maclay growled at the group of teenagers looking for his daughter. “Did you know demons exist? Well, they do, and she’s one of them.”

“Really?” Farkas looked at his pack. “A demon?”

Tara looked down in shame. Therefore, she didn’t catch the other teenagers elbowing each other with grins on their faces. Why was her father telling the strangers her worst secret?

Donald couldn’t believe the teenagers were acting like a demon was no big deal. He’d just have to convince them. “Yes, a dirty, disgusting demon,” he snorted. “Not the sort that nice young people like you should hang out with.” Sure, the one boy had painted nails and green tipped hair, but all the girls looked like the prom queen type.

Dot grinned before she sniffed the air near Tara. “Doesn’t smell like a demon to me.”

“It’ll happen when she turns eighteen,” Tara’s brother, Donny, replied.

“You’re full of shit,” Farkas glared at the two men. Then, he too sniffed at Tara. “There is no way she’s a demon.”

Tara stared at Farkas through her eyelashes. She wondered why he was saying that she wasn’t a demon. All the family knew that the females in her family were demons.

“Too bad Anyanka is busy. I’d love to show these assholes a real demon,” Kelsa replied.

“It’s really close to a full moon. We don’t really need her.” Dot grinned. She turned feral eyes on the Maclays. “Don’t worry, boys, we _like_ demons.”

Amy went to Tara’s side, and she took the other witch’s. “It’s up to you, Tara. Demon or not, we don’t care. I’m a witch just like you.”

“I-I’m a W-Wicca,” Tara stammered.

Amy smiled. “Okay. Witch or Wicca. We magical gals need to stick together. You’ll be welcomed with open arms by everyone we know. What do you say?”

“If you leave, you’ll have no home here,” Donald hissed. “When you come crawling back, you won’t be welcome.”

Tara looked first at Amy, and then at her father. “I’m going with them.”

“No you won’t.” Donny stepped towards Tara. He tried to grab her arm.

As one, the pack of werewolves snarled at the young man. He stepped back in fright when their eyes flashed gold.

“They’re freaks, just like her,” Donny screeched at his father.

“Go pack,” Amy told Tara. “Kelsa and Dot will help you.”

Tara nodded. She motioned the female werewolves towards her room. “This way.”

“Good riddance to bad rubbish,” Donald spat out. “Whore.”

Amy’s eyes turned cold. She muttered a forgetting spell with a special time released twist on the words. “If I ever see either of you again. I’ll turn you into frogs or newts for my spells.”

“Come on, Junior,” Maclay barked at Donny. He grabbed his shotgun. “Be gone when I get back, or I’ll come in shooting.” He stormed out of the house with his son at his heels.

“That went well,” Farkas said.

“Got Buffy her new Wicca. It was spiffing,” Amy replied.


	26. Chocolate and Honey

Chapter 26, chocolate and honey 

NIGHT BEFORE THE PROM

“What is that on your face, Slayer?” Spike asked after he climbed into the Slayer’s room. He found her lying on her bed with her face covered in a brown, sweet-smelling paste.

“It’s a chocolate-honey facial mask,” Buffy answered. “Mom made it for me.”

“Does it taste as good as it smells?”

Buffy held back a giggle. “I’ve never tried tasting it.”

Spike knelt beside Buffy’s bed. He gripped her chin with one hand. With a sultry smirk he licked along her upper lip.

Buffy’s mouth fell open at the feel of the cool, sensual glide of Spike’s tongue. Her nipples hardened, and her pussy clenched in anticipation of that same limber organ travelling to other places of her anatomy.

“Mmm, chocolaty-honeyed Slayer. My favorite kinda treat,” Spike murmured. He closed the minute distance between their lips. Spike nibbled at Buffy’s soft mouth for a few minutes before he moved his lips down her jaw line to her neck. He smeared the honeyed chocolate along her pulse point.

“Feels good,” Buffy whispered. She fell back onto the bed, pulling Spike down on top of her. When he settled between her splayed thighs she flung her legs around him.

“I think I should cover your whole body in this stuff just so I can lick it off.” Spike swept his tongue along Buffy’s chin as a demonstration of his suggestion.

“Nothing is stopping you,” Buffy whispered.

“Except your little girlfriends showin’ up for a pre-prom party,” Spike muttered into Buffy’s skin.

“Well, you boys do want us all beautified for the big night, dontcha?”

“I suppose, even if I’m not a _boy_ ,” Spike grumbled with a huff. He started to move away from Buffy, but she had a firm grip on him.

Buffy giggled. “I guess it’s a good thing the others won’t be here for a couple of hours then, huh?”

“Naughty little minx,” Spike cooed. He ripped Buffy’s tank top open, and the buttons popped off in several directions. He used his forefingers to gather chocolate from Buffy’s cheeks to spread across her nipples. Then, his mouth followed the path his fingers had taken.

Buffy’s back arched under the pleasurable onslaught. She was glad she’d made a double batch of the beauty concoction. It seemed the first batch’s purpose had changed. She leaned in to nip at Spike’s ear. “I finally figured out who you are, William. Whisper some poetry to me about being effulgent.”

Spike let out a groan. He just wasn’t sure if it was from pleasure or reluctance. “It was really bad poetry, Slayer.”

“Good thing I’m not one of those conny-sewer people, then.” Buffy giggled when Spike grimaced at her mispronunciation of connoisseur. Between her Watcher and her vampire, she was going to have years and years of word fun. 

Spike dropped his head to Buffy’s shoulder, and he let out a sigh. “Anything in particular you want to hear, luv?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER 

Anyanka stepped into Buffy’s bedroom. She sniffed the air like a bloodhound. “You had sex in here,” she broadcasted.

“Geez, did you have to announce it, Anya,” Buffy groaned. She patted her damp hair.

“Of course, I did.” Anyanka smiled brightly. “Now we can trade orgasm stories.”

Faith laughed while she pushed past Anyanka into Buffy’s room. “Well, I’m always up for a good orgasm story.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “Anya has some doozies, and I should know. We hung out together while you all were searching for that mind-reading demon that attacked us last month.”

“Is that why Giles can’t look you in the eye now without blushing, Faith?” Amy asked. She crossed the room to plop down in a chair.

“You betcha,” Faith replied.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. “So, were you too busy to test the chocolate honey facial recipe I gave you?”

“Oh no, I tested it.” Buffy blushed. “Spike says it tastes good.”

“That explains the healthy glow Buffy has about herself,” Dot commented. She leaned into Kelsa’s space, and the two female werewolves giggled.

“Yeah, yeah, pick on the Slayer,” Buffy muttered. “Here I thought we were getting ready for the prom.”

“Well, let’s see. Prom wrecking twerp? Check.” Kelsa pretended to mark off a checklist.

“Hellhounds to munch on the prom-goers? Check.” Cordelia joined in on the fun.

“Twerp and Hellhounds’ butts kicked? Very, very check!” Faith said with a laugh. She’d been the one to kick Hellhound butt. So, she had reason to brag.

“Dresses and dates. Check.”

Faith laughed. “I think B’s right. We’re getting ready for the prom now.” She tapped her chin. “However, I think I’m at the wrong party.”

“Why’s that,” Dot asked.

“Because you girls are all wearing dresses, and I wear the pants in my relationship.”

“You just keep telling yourself that, Faith,” Buffy stated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

AFTER THE PROM

Faith put her fingers in her mouth, and she let out a shrill whistle. “Alright, everyone. Settle down already.” She pointed towards the man standing behind the sandwich counter. “This is Pascel. He’s the owner of this fine establishment, and he can build you the most perfect sandwich ever. Who wants to be first up?”

Wesley stepped up to the counter. “I’ll go first,” he said bravely. 

Pascel titled his head. “Of course. I know just what you want. Your lady friend too.” He peered past Wesley at Cordelia. In a flurry of movement, Pascel made two sandwiches accompanied by a dill pickle spear. 

After both Wesley and Cordelia declared their sandwiches perfection, the others clamored towards the counter. Soon, the whole group was seated and munching away at their food.

“So, what’s so special about that sandwich, Wesley?” Faith eyed the Watcher while he happily ate his dinner.

“Chips,” Cordelia answered for Wesley. “We have the same sandwich with grilled chicken and salt and vinegar chips.”

Wesley nodded as he hummed around another mouthful.

“Mine’s peanut butter and bacon,” Buffy said. She wrinkled her nose. “Spike’s smells way too spicy for me though. He’s gonna have to brush his teeth if he wants a kiss any time soon.”

“Hot and spicy buffalo chicken smothered in fried onions and jalapenos,” Spike mumbled. He chewed another mouthful off his sandwich. After he swallowed, he said, “We are so coming here after every patrol for one of these.”

The others laughed when Faith nudged Buffy. “Looks like you’re gonna be carrying a toothbrush and toothpaste, B.”

“Or at the very least Listerine,” Farkas joked. “So, this is our last hoorah together before graduation, huh? It’ll be one of the last times the whole gang’ll be together.”

“Not all of us,” Buffy said in a small voice. She glanced at Oz before she picked up her drink. “To Xander and Willow. May they find their way out of the darkness they’ve found themselves in.”

The others raised their glasses too. Together they said, “To Xander and Willow.”


	27. Car Crash

Chapter 27, car crash 

ONE YEAR LATER, POST SEASON 4, GOING INTO SEASON 5

“I can’t believe Xander died in a car crash,” Buffy said. She leaned into Spike while they watched the sunset. Buffy played with the ring on the vamp’s fingers that allowed him to walk in the sun. “He just got out of Lakeshore. He was doing so much better.”

Spike could care less about Xander Harris. He felt the human deserved what happened to him for all the pain that Buffy had gone through. However, Spike certainly didn’t plan on telling his mate that. She carried enough guilt over the idiot’s actions as it was. “Not your fault, luv.” Spike kissed the top of Buffy’s head.

“I know.” Buffy turned to look up into Spike’s face. “Do you think Willow knows?”

Spike shrugged. “Do you think she cares? Red’s too far into the vengeance gig now.”

“You’re probably right.”

“Glad to see you’ve finally seen the light,” Spike teased.

“Still we should do something in Xander’s memory. No one else will.”

Spike let out a wary chuckle. “You’re probably right, pet. We’ll rally the troops and have a memorial barbeque after the funeral.” He tightened his arms around Buffy. “Now, on to happier things, how are the wedding plans going?”

“Oh Lord,” Buffy muttered. “Anya’s taking this whole mother of the groom to the extreme. She got in this big fight with mom at the dress shop today. I thought I was going to have to use my Slayer moves on my own mother. Dawn just sat there and laughed. She wasn’t any help at all.”

“We could just elope,” Spike suggested. “Mr. Bits and Pieces is dead and buried. Hellmouth’s pretty quiet. We could sneak off to Vegas and get hitched.” 

“We’d be in so much trouble that there would be no end to our torture.” Buffy shook her head. “We just need to endure. We’re strong, and we can handle it. Maybe.”

“Yeah, we can.” Spike leaned in to kiss Buffy’s neck. “Wanna go shag?”

“I’d love to, but I think I need to call Cordelia about Xander. You should see if Anya can let Willow know,” Buffy said with a reluctant sigh. “I know she’s pretty much lost to us now, but Xander was her friend long before I ever came to Sunnydale.”

“Oh joy, a talk with the tarty stepmom,” Spike grunted.

“You know, that joke is gonna get old really fast.” Buffy struggled to her feet. “I’ll meet you at Restfield in a couple of hours so we can patrol.”

“You’re taking all my fun away, Slayer,” Spike groused. 

Buffy leaned over to kiss the vampire’s cheek. “I’ll make it up to you later. I promise.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” Spike rose gracefully to his feet. He grabbed his duster from the back of the couch. “I’ll be down at Rupert’s new store if you need me.”

“Alright.” As soon as Spike was out the front door, Buffy went to the phone. She dialed Cordelia’s number from memory. After a few rings, Dot picked up.

“Wolf Pack Investigations. Helping the hopeless is our business.”

“Hey, Dot, it’s Buffy. Can I talk to Cordelia?” Buffy twisted the phone cord in her fingers. “I have some bad news about Xander.”

“Oh no. He just got out of the sanitarium didn’t he?” Dot’s voice was full of sympathy. “Let me get Cordy.”

Buffy heard Dot put down the receiver. This was going to be hard for both Cordelia and herself. Xander had worked hard to get past his issues with the chaos magic disaster, Angelus’ rape, and stint in a sanitarium. He’d written the whole gang – even Spike – letters of apology. 

The phone clanked against the desk when Cordelia picked it up. “Hey, Buffy. Dot said you had some bad news about Xander. Did something happen to make the doctors keep him?”

“I wish it was that simple. No, he was in a car accident on his way back from Rocky Point. He and his Uncle Rory were killed instantly.” Buffy took a deep, centering breath.

“Was his uncle driving drunk?” Everyone knew Rory was a drinker. In fact, most of Xander’s family had the same problem.

“No, I found out Rory had been sober since Angelus attacked Xander. It was foggy, and there was a pileup.” 

Cordelia let out her own sigh. “I just saw him last week. He was so thrilled to be going back to Sunnydale. He’d hoped he could figure out a way to get a hold of Willow. He’d hoped he could help her find herself again.”

“The funeral is in three days at two in the afternoon at Wilkins Memorial Cemetery. I doubt anyone else is gonna care enough to attend except his mom and dad.” Buffy closed her eyes. A tear trickled down her cheek. “I thought we’d have a memorial barbeque here at the house. Those of us that knew Xander can tell everyone about the good times.”

“He’d like that,” Cordelia replied. “We’ll see you then, Buffy. Thanks for the call.”

“Yeah, see ya.” Buffy hung up the phone. She went back into the living room where she slumped on the couch. “Without Xander, I don’t think we’ll ever get Willow back.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Giles looked up when the bell above the door jingled. The magic shop wasn’t open for business quite yet, but after the fifth person knocked on the door he just unlocked it. He was letting anyone that showed up know that he’d be open for business the coming Monday. 

“Hey Rupes,” Spike greeted the Watcher. “Got some bad news about Harris. He and his uncle were killed in a car wreck on their way from Rocky Point.”

“Good Lord.” Giles slumped in his chair.

“I was wondering if demon girl could get a message to Willow,” Spike said. “Well, personally I don’t give a rat’s arse, but Buffy is nothing if not loyal to her friends.”

“Yes, she is. I’ll call Anya right away.”

“Thanks, mate. Buffy’s calling the Cheerleader and her crew. We’re having a barbeque after the funeral. Buffy’ll want your best Xander memory.” Spike rolled his eyes. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Buffy looked around at her friends and family. She hated that the reason they were having a get together was for such a somber occasion. “I met Xander my first day of high school on the Hellmouth…”


	28. The last of the story

Chapter 28

TWO YEARS LATER, END OF SEASON SIX, 

Buffy waddled into her living room followed by Joyce and Tara. She was near the end of her mysterious, mystical pregnancy, and she couldn’t wait for it to be over. Buffy stopped when she saw that the room was covered in packages and shopping bags. “What’s all this?”

A flustered and disheveled Dawn stumbled into the room with her arms laden with more items. “He bought one of everything in the blasted store,” she blurted out. 

“We only needed a couple of onsies.” Buffy had a dismayed look on her face.

“Yeah, that’s what I had planned on getting.” Dawn dumped the packages on the already overflowing couch. “Spike completely embarrassed me, and that is why we’re never going shopping together again.”

Buffy nodded. She knew all about the hazards of shopping with a hyperactive vampire. “What did he do this time?”

Dawn shuddered at the memory. “The better question is what he didn’t do.” She pointed a finger at Buffy. “If you get pregnant again, you’re on your own!”

Joyce poked through the bags and packages. “Well, this is going to make having a baby shower harder. We don’t need to buy the baby anything now.”

“Yeah, but the shower is really just an excuse for Cordelia and the pack to get out of Los Angeles for a few days and have a party,” Buffy commented. She pushed the bags off a chair, and she eased her way down into the seat. “Besides, we all want to meet these mysterious new allies of theirs. A vampire and a lawyer? Come on, that’s gotta be something to see.”

“A vampire _and_ a lawyer?” Dawn asked. “How come you get all the juicy news?”

Buffy chuckled. “I only found out because Wesley called the other day to ask Giles a question. He was kinda tightlipped about the vamp, but the lawyer’s name is Lindsey McDonald. They stole him from that demon law firm they’re always fighting with.”

“Cordelia is so cool these days,” Dawn huffed in a teasing manner. “Now she’s lawyer stealing too? Who would have thought she’d ever sink so low?”

“W-we can s-still have a party even if it’s not a s-shower,” Tara suggested. “There’re plenty of things to celebrate.”

Dawn nodded in agreement. “Heck, we didn’t even have a party last year when we figured out how to defeat Glory.”

“Nope, I guess not.” Buffy grunted. “Was this year’s big bad even worth a party? I mean it was only Warren and his army of bots.”

“Last big party we had was when you and Spike got married,” Joyce commented. She started to move the shopping bags to the corner of the living room. She’d get Hank to help Spike upstairs take them upstairs later.

Buffy shrugged. “Okay, let’s have a party.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

TWO YEARS LATER, END OF ‘SEASON EIGHT’

“Space. The final frontier… “ William Shatner’s voice poured from the television speakers. The volume was low, but Spike heard it anyway.

Beside the vampire lay his young son. William had awakened a few minutes after Buffy left on patrol. His young body was feverish and restless.

“Daddy,” William whimpered. “Tummy hurts.” The boy’s face paled and vomit erupted from his mouth. It was only the vampiric speed of his father that saved the projectile from hitting anywhere besides the trash can.

Dawn appeared in the living room door. She was pale, and she clutched at her stomach with one hand. “I don’t feel so good.”

“You’re not the only one, Bit. William’s just ralphed too.” Spike pointed towards the kitchen. “Grab a couple of puke buckets.” 

“It’s all Connor’s fault,” Dawn muttered. She shuffled into the kitchen. He’s a frickin’ daywalking son of a vampire and a lawyer. Who’d have thought he could get the flu.”

“He’s just back from that hell dimension. I guess he doesn’t have any immunity.” Spike followed Dawn. He grabbed a jug of Gatorade from the fridge, and he poured William a small sippy cup of the cool drink.

“That’s no excuse. I’ll be paying him back. Big time!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Going for Broke 

A COUPLE OF YEARS LATER

“Let’s go for broke and have another baby,” Spike whispered into Buffy’s ear. He kept his eye on the street.

“You want to talk about that now?” Buffy glanced at Spike.

Spike shrugged. “First time we’ve been alone in a month.”

“Another baby means even less time alone. Besides, last time was pretty much a supernatural fluke.” Buffy leaned forward to study the street too. She pointed at a man swaggering down the street that had tripped her Slaydar. “Is that the vamp we’re looking for?”

Spike threw a glance at the man. “Nah, that’s just a half breed like the cheerleader’s man. Now, William told me he wants a baby sister or brother for Christmas.” Spike shrugged. “Santa can’t put that present under the tree, no matter how hard he tries.”

Buffy gave her husband a pointed look. “I’ll think about it.”

Spike grinned at Buffy. He knew what that meant. “We’ll start as soon as we get home,” he chortled. “It’s so much fun trying though, isn’t it, Slayer?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

And that was only the beginning 

TWO YEARS LATER

Buffy stared at the pregnancy tester. “Tasha’s not even a year old. I can’t be pregnant again.”

“You okay in there?” Dawn asked from the other side of the bathroom door. “Are you pregnant or not?”

“Yeah,” Buffy’s voice wavered a bit. “Yeah, I am.”

“Awesome! Our little ones will be born together.”

“What?” Buffy shot up from where she sat on the toilet. She threw the door open. “You’re too young to be pregnant.”

“Apparently Connor’s extra potent. Kinda like Spike.” Dawn blushed at her words. She wasn’t used to talking about sex with her sister.

“Spike’s gonna go into protective overdrive when he finds out you’re pregnant too.” Buffy patted Dawn’s shoulder. He took the protection of pregnant females very personal. The expectant mother being his Bit would make it even worse.

Dawn paled at the thought, and she muttered under her breath. “Yeah, and that’s only the beginning.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Two or more misremembered versions of the same event

SOMEWHERE IN THE FUTURE

“Then, I singlehandedly rescued the Scoobies from the poofter,” Spike finished off the story with a flourish of his hand. He smiled down at the three children sleeping on the floor next to the couch. “That story gets them every time.”

“You shouldn’t fill your children’s ears with such untruths,” Giles admonished when he entered the room. “They know it was I who rescued the Scoobies from Angelus. I told them the story just last week when you and Buffy were out slaying that Dragoon demon.”

“Come on, Rupes, you know it was me that rescued the Scoobies,” Spike spluttered. “If I hadn’t convinced Angelus to use Drusilla to find out about the rock, you would be wearing dentures right now instead of your own pearly thirty two.”

Giles shuddered. “Must you remind me? I still have nightmares before dental appointments.”

“Yeah, I know.” Spike chuckled darkly. “That’s why Buffy has scheduled you an appointment and hasn’t told you about it.”

“Daddy?” A sleepy voice interrupted Spike.

“Yes, sweetie?” 

“I like Mommy’s version of the Scooby rescue from Angelieus the best,” five year old Taj Jamison replied before she nodded off to sleep again.

Giles and Spike stared at each other wide eyed. 

“Wonder what the Slayer’s version is of rescuing the gang?” Spike asked.

“I’m almost scared to find out,” Giles replied.

 

THE END


End file.
